The Finale: Bittersweet
by MiraLake
Summary: Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Hisui, and Arcadios team up to kill Zeref and Acnologia. According to an old legend, the only way to defeat them is through a celestial spirit mage. But is Lucy and Yukino up for the challenge? Are they willing to sacrifice anything for this? This is my theory of how FT will end. (Heavily inspired by FFX. Cover image is made by Blanania, deviantart)
1. I am END

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Fairy Tail. It is the property of Hiro Mashima. I do not the plot of this story, it is owned by Square Enix. This is not for any financial gain but for pure entertainment purposes and inspired by the creative minds of talented people.**

 _ **This is my first fanfiction, please enjoy and give constructive criticism. Thank you!**_

* * *

 **Ch. 1: "I am END"**

My name is Lucy Heartfillia. Daughter of Layla and Jude Heartfillia. Descendant of the great celestial wizard, Anna Heartfillia.

And this is my story.

It all started when I ran away from home at age sixteen, to join the best guild around, Fairy Tail. Before all of that, I had no real experience with using magic other than for pure enjoyment and to just keep me company.

All of that changed when I entered this guild hall. I've met so many new people, went through so many life-threatening and life-changing situations, and not to mention, also increased my level as a mage overall.

To think I would've missed opportunities like the Grand Magic Games or the S-Class Trials, if I never joined Fairy Tail is unimaginable by now.

I would've never learned to summon three spirits at once, or learned how to handle myself when facing a future version of me. Or that my mother was involved in a secret plot that involved the dragons, the five dragonslayers, and the Black Wizard, Zeref.

I've come so far from just an average rich girl who is inexperienced in life and magic, to a proud member of an amazing guild—no—family.

They are everything to me, and I won't lose them, even if I have to sacrifice something greater than life itself. I won't allow that to happen.

Not here.

Not now.

* * *

 _Third Person Point of View..._

It's been nearly an hour since Happy brought an unconscious Natsu through the window during Lucy's reconciliation with Brandish.

Natsu was mortally wounded due to his battle with Zeref. He managed to lay a few good hits on the Black Wizard with the gift of Igneel's final powers, but then Zeref had let the cat out the bag.

The truth was revealed.

Lucy still couldn't help but let my tears flow upon hearing the truth. She was more sad than she was mad.

"Etherious Natsu Dragneel...E.N.D. No...tell me that it's isn't true. Please. Tell me."

She kneeled over Natsu's burning body lying on the bed.

Happy grudgingly nods, "Aye. It's true. But there's more to that. Zeref's last name is 'Dragneel' Lucy. He's Natsu's older brother! He hurt him with the Book of END! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Lucy put a hand to her mouth as if to prevent herself from screaming. But honestly, she have absolutely nothing to say.

This was too much for her mind to handle.

Brandish left with Porlyusica to retrieve medicine and special treatment for Natsu's serious condition. Lucy didn't need to think twice when she saw the look on Porlyusica's face the moment Happy carried Natsu inside.

There's a high chance he won't make it.

Lucy refuses to believe that and squeezes Natsu's right hand. It was like squeezing a burning teakettle.

"You're going to make it. We're going to rid Magnolia of the Spriggans and Zeref. Then we'll go out on jobs again and destroy whole towns...just like the old days."

Happy hops down from the bed's headboard and onto the mattress right next to Natsu.

"He's going to be ok. I think." He really didn't know what to say to make this situation sound better.

Lucy offers him a kind smile, "Well, things could've gone a lot worse."

Happy sighs, "Aye...things could've...if I hadn't pulled him away from the battle."

Lucy looked confused and narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Right after Zeref told us about the whole END and 'brothers stuff' and other 'time travel stuff' that I don't remember. Well, Natsu was going to finish him off but...I stopped him." Happy said.

"But why? Is it because Zeref's immortal and can't be killed that easily?" Lucy questioned.

The blue cat shook his head, his little body trembling, "No, because if Natsu kills him...then...then...Natsu will die as well!"

Happy began breaking down into sobs and Lucy released her hand from Natsu's, her body shaking. Happy talked to her between sobs.

"Don't you see? All of the demons are connected to their creator, Zeref. If he dies, then that means Natsu will go down with him! I couldn't have let that happen!"

Happy turns his back away from Natsu and Lucy.

Lucy stood up slowly and looked down at the ground, holding the wall for support.

"Then that means, there's no way of actually defeating him...what, what in the world is happening? This has got to be some kind of trick! You can't just make me believe that Natsu is supposed to be the most powerful demon created by Zeref! Or that the two of them are brothers! Or that if Zeref dies, then that means Natsu will also...will also..." Lucy's voice grew weaker and weaker.

Porlyusica rushed back inside carrying handfuls of herbs with Brandish behind her carrying buckets of water and other liquid-like substances.

Porlyusica came over to Lucy and helped her sit down into a nearby chair.

"I'm sorry child. But that's the way things are sometimes. And before you ask, yes—I heard everything from outside. There's no easy way to say this, but I think it's best if the rest of your guild also knows about Natsu. There'll never be a good time to tell them, but it'll be a whole lot better if Natsu was the one who told them and not one of your enemies." The old woman soothed.

Lucy looks over to Brandish who is setting down one bucket of water on the ground, while scooping a bowlful of another bucket and walking over to Natsu.

Lucy points to Brandish.

"You."

Brandish sets the bowl down in confusion.

"Me?"

Lucy nods fiercely, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You knew about this didn't you? You were a part of Zeref's Spriggan 12 right?"

Brandish began to grow fearful from this sudden accusation.

"N—no! It's not like that I knew! But I didn't don't know either! I knew about the relationship with Zeref and his demons, but never his relationship with the fire dragonslayer. I swear! Please, I just want to do my part now!" The girl genuinely begged.

Lucy's eyes grew wide as she realized that she was just pointing fingers here. She immediately recoils and softens a bit.

"I'm sorry. It's just—"

Brandish interrupts her, "I know. I'd feel the same way if my boyfriend was in the same situation."

Lucy jumps up at this comment.

"HOLD ON A MINUTE! HE'S NOT MY—I'M NOT HIS—WHERE DID YOU GET THAT IDEA ANYWAY!?"

Brandish and Porlyusica laugh as Lucy forces her face colour to cease and heartbeat to slow down. Happy also stopped crying and flew over to them.

"You guys know she's lying because they're like totally gonna be together at the end of this whole thing!"

Lucy exclaims in panic, "That's not true! Well it's not for me! So even if he did feel something, the feeling's not mutual! And I doubt that he feels anything!"

Brandish laughs lightly, "Well, why don't we ask him once he wakes up?"

"Ask me what?" A low gruff voice suddenly said.

Natsu was struggling to sit up on the bed, still looking exhausted and a bit pale, but he was awake. Lucy's body shook from that sight.

"Natsu..."

She suddenly jumped up in front of him with Happy right by her side, nearly knocking him out cold again.

"YOU'RE AWAKE! YOU'RE ALIVE!" She cried.

"AYE! I'M THE HAPPIEST TALKING CAT IN THE WHOLE WOLRD!" Happy said simultaneously.

Natsu yells back at the both them, "WELL OF COURSE I'M ALIVE! IT TAKES MORE THAN JUST A ZAP TO KILL ME! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE THE HAPPIEST TALKING CAT IN THE WORLD? YOU'RE NAME'S HAPPY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! AND YOU'RE A TALKING CAT!"

Porlyusica sighs and shakes her head at the sight of the two young people getting together.

"And she just said she didn't harbour any feelings towards him."

Brandish looked a bit sad however. A bit sad and guilty.

"What Lucy said was true though. I do know a lot about Zeref and his relationship with the fire dragonslayer. I just found it hard to believe that Emperor Spriggan actually feels...something towards a living being, so I thought what I knew were just lies."

Porlyusica puts a hand on her shoulder, "Well, now that you know those aren't lies, you should tell him what you know. He deserves to properly know about his relationship with Zeref and END."

Upon hearing those words "Zeref" and "END," Natsu sits up straight and pushes Lucy and Happy out of the way to focus on Brandish and Porlyusica.

"What? What about them? Do you guys know?" Natsu asked.

A serious expression on his face. Brandish nods slowly.

"Yes. I do know. I'm sorry for everything I've done to you guys back then, but I really do want to make up for all of that."

Natsu gives her his signature grin, "Well then, you could start by telling us what you know about our enemy."

Brandish looks up, her eyes filled with tears of joy that she would be given a second chance so easily. Lucy smiles at her, glad that her new friend is willing to start over.

Brandish walks over to the bed and pulls out a chair so that she could sit down in front of them.

"Ok, so here's what I know..."

* * *

 _Several Hours Later_

Brandish is exhausted and shaky from all the talking, explaining and apologizing for the past few hours or more. Everyone who had been listening to her is in some kind of an unbreakable trance, trying to absorb all the information she's been dumping out.

The former Spriggan 12 mage sighed, "So you see? There's really no way to defeat the Emperor...well to defeat him in way that causes the least amount of suffering..."

Natsu suddenly perched up.

"That's not true...I won't die..."

Brandish and Lucy looked up at him, their mouths agape. Natsu puts on a serious expression.

"Even if Zeref is killed I won't die! I'm not END!"

Brandish cried out for him to calm down, "Natsu, I don't think you understand! You are END! You were affected when the Book of END was struck! What do you have to prov—"

Natsu stands, silencing her, "That strike from the book is nothing more than just a flesh wound that'll heal. Any other demon of Zeref would've easily fallen to that! I didn't! Know why?"

Natsu jumped over the women and stood up straight, facing the away from their direction. He was gazing out the window into the endless night sky. His eyes were calm and solemn.

"Because I've got the blood of a dragon running through me... Because I am the son of Igneel, who tried to vanquish END, but couldn't because he saw him in me. END is just a surface image of me, but who I am...I am not that. So no. I won't die if I kill Zeref!"

Lucy's eyes widened again, this time along with everyone else's. They all began to slowly see and understand what Natsu is talking about.

Lucy immediately runs up behind Natsu. Throwing her arms around him, she buried her face into his back. He continued to look up at the sky. _This feeling...is so familiar..._

Lucy whispered into Natsu's back, "I've always thought you were stupid. And now...my thoughts are confirmed. Natsu Dragneel. You are the stupidest guy I've ever met. But don't you change, because if you do...you won't be the 'son of Igneel' anymore..."

Natsu grins and looks behind him to see the peaceful face of the blonde haired celestial spirit mage.

He turns around to face Lucy and gives her a reassuring look.

"Well I'm glad you're always on my team Lucy. And you too Happy. There's ain't no stopping us now! We'll go all the way to the Empire to defeat him if we have to!"

Happy flies over to Natsu's side and salutes him in greeting.

"Aye sir! We're the unbreakable team!"

With that, Natsu, Happy, and Lucy all rushed out through the front door of Porlyusica's house and ran towards the guild hall.

Natsu turns around one last time to yell a question to Brandish.

"Hey! Brandish!"

Brandish yells back, "Yes?!"

The fire dragonslayer slowed down his pace.

"What was the plan that the dragons made? The one that had to do with eclipse again?"

Brandish shouted as loud as she could, "To take five dragonslayers to the future in order to defeat a weakened Acnologia! That was their ultimate goal!"

Natsu grabbed Lucy by the hand to help her run faster. Happy soared above them, scouting ahead of any incoming obstacles.

Natsu grins again and yelled back his last answer.

"Then we'll finish what they planned for us to do!"

* * *

 _Outside the Fairy Tail Guild Hall..._

Wendy was healing an injured Gray from his wounds during the day's battle while Erza sits nearby, making sure there will be no more threats tonight.

Juvia was lying on a mat next to Wendy, also injured, but refused to leave Gray's side. Gajeel suddenly runs towards them from the guild hall.

Erza turns around to him, "Any sign of them?"

Gajeel shakes his head, "No. Wonder what the salamander and bunnygirl got themselves into this time? It's been way too long."

Erza sighed and gets up from her seat. Wendy finished healing Gray and called after Erza.

"Hey, where are you going? It's going to be night soon."

Erza looked at Wendy, "I'm going to tell Master I'm going out to look for Natsu and Lucy."

Gajeel shook his head, "Nah, that's a bad idea. Besides that 'pyro' is stronger than he looks, and that's the only compliment I'm ever going to give him."

"Say what!? Well thanks a lot you metal loser!" A loud voice suddenly said.

Natsu, Lucy, and Happy appeared behind them. Wendy breathed a sigh of relief and Gray struggled to sit up straight. Erza smiled and relaxed.

"Well that's a relief you guys are alright. Where have you been all this time?"

Happy rushed forward, wanting to be the one to tell everyone what they've just found out about Zeref, the dragons, eclipse, and Acnologia.

Happy begins speaking a mile a minute, "We were at Porlyusica's place resolving things with Brandish, who isn't really bad at all. Natsu got hurt during the fight with Zeref so I brought him to Porlyusica's place, but he's all better now, and Zeref told him a lot of stuff about dragons, and dragonslayers, and ecli—."

Lucy stuffs a fish inside Happy's mouth, "Thank you but I think I'll take over from here."

Happy mumbles an "aye."

Lucy turned to Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, and Gray. They all sat down and gave her their utmost attention. Erza nodded for her to begin. Opening her mouth to speak, Lucy was stopped by Natsu, who quickly jutted a hand out in front of her before she could begin.

"Wait Lucy, when it comes to _that_ part. I want to be the one to say it, alright?"

He barely whispered the sentence, but she understood what he meant and nods in agreement.

"Alright."

Turning to her friends, Lucy is no longer smiling. The entire area around them seemed to have gotten a whole lot darker.

"So guys, ever since we've started this war with the Alvarez Empire, we've been blindly fighting. We have no knowledge on what our enemies want, or worse. Do we know any of our enemies at all?!

All we know is 'we have to defeat them in the end!' Defeat whom? And how? Well, let me tell you the whole story from the beginning."

Taking a deep breath, Lucy begins, "400 years ago, after the dragons civil war, the dragons who still supported the humans, devised a plan was to train five dragonslayers and send them to the future to defeat Acnologia.

Using one of Zeref's creations, the eclipse gate. The celestial wizard, Anna Heartfillia, my ancestor, opened it, allowing the plan to be put in action. My mother was the one who opened the gate in this time period for the dragonslayers to enter.

However, she was missing one of the 12 Zodiac keys, Aquarius's key. It was with one of her servants, Grammi, whom she couldn't contact with. So, my mother used her own magic power instead, and suffered from magic deficiency disease.

Grammi visited my mother one last time and returned Aquarius's key to her...before being murdered by a vengeful Zoldeo, who blamed my mother's death on her."

Lucy stiffled her tears at these memories, "Aquarius showed me and Brandish this through the memory of the stars."

She looked over to Natsu, and nodded for him to say his part.

"During my fight with Zeref, he told me...lots of...interesting things. Things like how he met Igneel, and gave me to him to be trained into a dragonslayer. Zeref hoped that I would become strong enough to defeat him one day.

But that's just the basic stuff, now what I'm about to say is something...that's not to be joked about. Promise me you guys won't freak out?" He begged.

Erza narrowed her eyes at him, "This better not be a crude joke..."

Natsu flails his arms wildly, "It's not! It's not! It's actually something really important and serious!"

Lucy and Happy nodded, assuring them that this is serious.

Gray sighed, "Alright, get to the point already."

Natsu stood up and walked a few feet away from them, just in case they were going to overreact.

"So here's the thing, in the middle of the battle between me and Zeref, he told me his last name...'Dragneel.' Zeref Dragneel. He is my older brother..."

Memories of that event still haunted Natsu.

By now, almost everyone except for Lucy and Happy, were in a complete state of shock. Natsu would usually smirk gleefully at their reactions, but not this time. This time, he's being serious. Dead serious.

He continued to talk, "There's more to this. Back 400 years ago, my parents and I were killed by dragon embers...that's right, I died...then I was resurrected by Zeref...But there's still more to this. I wasn't just resurrected,

I was recreated as well...as E.N.D..."

Gray's eyes went from as large as a frying pan to as narrow as two slits. He stared intently at Natsu, who trembled in fear from what Gray could be thinking of. Erza looked like as if she completely became frozen in time.

Her body was as still as a statue, and her facial expression was not changing. The only thing moving was the rising and falling of chest, confirming that she's still breathing.

Wendy covered her mouth with both of her hands, stiffling a loud gasp. Her eyes said everything about her thoughts. The young girl was scared.

Gajeel almost fell back on the rock that he was sitting on. He scrunched up his brows while looking at the fire dragonslayer. Opening his mouth to say something, he quickly changed his mind and decided to stay silent.

Which was the choice for the majority of the people hear. Nobody dared to say anything. Natsu felt sweat dripping down the back of his neck as he finishes what he needs to say.

"Etherious...Natsu...Dragneel...guys. I am the strongest demon Zeref created. I am END."

* * *

 **While reading over this story again, I've discovered lots of corrections that needed to be made. So I quickly brought out my keyboard and started editing all my errors.**

 **Please inform me if you see anything else that needs correcting. (I'm a horrible proofreader unfortunately...)**

 **I hope this revision of chapter 1 is an improvement! Please enjoy!**


	2. Old Legend

**Hey guys! I've also revised chapter 2 here! (I'm planning on revising all of the current chapters before posting any new chapters right now). I don't know, I guess I'm just picky. I like it when I'm happy with how my chapters are, not when other people say that it's 'fine.'**

 **(I'm pretty sure, I'm not the only one here who thinks that.)**

 _ **I do not own the characters or setting, just the fanfic. Credits to Mashima for creating FT and to SE for being my inspiration.**_

* * *

 **Ch. 2: Old Legend**

It's now night and nearly half an hour since Jellal and Meredy arrived at the scene.

Right after Natsu told his declaration of truth, he suddenly fell down, out cold.

Turns out the guy who knocked him out was Jellal. After a brief greeting and explanation of being here, Jellal and Meredy tells the team follow them. That's when they all departed for the forest outside of Magnolia.

In a clearing inside the forest, they all stopped to rest by the large lake and waited for Natsu to wake up.

Erza, suspicious of what Jellal and Meredy's intentions are, watched them closely and walked up to Jellal, who was attempting to contact some people with a communications lacrima.

Jellal speaks to her, "I know what you want to ask me, Erza. But that will have to wait awhile. Right now, there are things that I must do."

Erza kneeled down beside him, "Who are trying to reach?"

"The Sabertooth guild." Jellal replied.

Erza looked confused, "Why? What do they have that's related to our matters now?"

Jellal concentrates on the communications lacrima for a bit, then decides to turn around and fully face the redheaded woman.

"They have the twin dragonslayers. We need their help. In defeating Acnologia..."

A million questions raced through Erza's head, but she only asked Jellal one.

"How do you know about the dragons' goal to defeat Acnologia?"

Jellal smirks, then returned to concentrating on the lacrima, "I know of many things since creating Crime Sorciere, dear Erza. And many more since my memories of my past have resurfaced. I'll tell you all about this once I get in contact with Sabertooth."

Erza nodded and walked back towards the rest of the Fairy Tail members, who were resting by the lake. Lucy and Wendy tended to Natsu who was now beginning to arouse and stir again.

He rubbed the back of his head, "Ugh...what hit me?"

Lucy smiled, "Natsu! You're finally awake! Jellal was the one who knocked you out, but not for any bad reasons."

Wendy nodded, "Uh huh, we're in the forest outside of Magnolia right now. Turns out, Jellal and Meredy know more about this whole situation more than we do right now."

Natsu looked confused as he gets up to his feet.

Erza rushed over to him, "Natsu. You're awake, that's good. Listen, somehow Crime Sorciere know of the plan to defeat Acnologia and they seem to be already putting that into action."

Gajeel stood up from his sitting spot and joined them.

"Yeah. They clarified the whole thing with being over 400 years old a bit more, when you were still playing sleeping beauty. I'm still trying to get this stuff into my head though."

Natsu ignores the comment about being 'sleeping beauty' and walks towards Meredy.

The cheerful pink-haired mage was happily conversing with Gray. As Natsu neared them, he could hear that the two of them were talking about Gray's feelings for Juvia.

The pink-haired girl giggled cheekily.

"So you DO care! I should tell Juvia right now!"

Gray pulled her back down before she could run away.

"NO! If someone is tell her, it's going to be me!"

Gray covers his mouth and his face began to turn to fifty different shades of red.

"I didn't just say that—"

"You diiii-iiiid." She singed as she gets up and began walking towards Jellal.

Natsu calls out after her, "Meredy!"

She turns around and smiles warmly, "Natsu! Hey, what's up?"

"Where's Jellal? I need to talk to him." He demanded.

Meredy pointed over by the darker section of the forest.

"Over there, he's trying to contact Sabertooth. If you want to ask him something, you should wait awhile."

Natsu shook his head and walked towards Jellal.

"I've got no time to wait. I need answers now! Jellal!"

The blue-haired wizard saint turned around and sighed. He puts away the communications lacrima.

"What is it Natsu?" He asks, walking over to him.

Natsu crossed arms and stared intently at Jellal.

"How do you know about this stuff with the whole eclipse thing and the dragons' plan to send us to the future to defeat Acnologia? You probably knew about this before I did!"

Jellal walked past Natsu and gestured for him to follow. The two walked towards the rest of the group down by the lake. Erza stood up straighter and everyone else stopped what they were doing.

All of their attentions were focused on Jellal.

He stood in front of everyone with Natsu and Meredy by his side.

"I know you're all wondering how I got to know this information. It's about time that you knew more. Before Tenrou Island reappeared, Crime Sorciere traveled across the continent to vanquish all the dark guilds and Zeref-worshippers, but we were unable to find Zeref himself."

Meredy continued from there, "Until Ultear located a mysterious young man who looked a lot younger than his what she had detected to be his actual age to be. We believed that he was Zeref, and so, we followed him to the edge of the continent.

It wasn't until now that we know that man was actually God Serena, the top wizard saint and a member of the Spriggan 12. Apparently, he's been living for quite some time."

Jellal nods and looked to the Fairy Tail wizards, "It was that day when we realized the existence of the Alvarez Empire. We oversaw and overheard God Serena talking about it before departing across the ocean. However, we were wary of telling it to the Magic Council or any of the guilds until after the events of Tartaros.

By then, we have discovered how the Empire looked like from researching and collecting data and the members of the Spriggan 12, and most importantly, the Emperor there, none other then Zeref himself."

By now, everyone was listening intently to the two Crime Sorciere wizards. They treated their words as if it held the secrets to the entire universe.

Afte a brief moment of silence, Jellal continued, "Thanks to Meredy's maguilty links, we've been able to collect more information about the Empire and Zeref without anyone detecting us, but it was risky.

Eventually, we discovered the whole history with the dragons, the dragonslayers, and the eclipse gate. That's how we got to know about this."

Meredy interrupted him one final time, "But, we also discovered something else. Something that's as secretive as the whole eclipse plot."

Jellal cleared his voice, "The other reason I wanted to contact Sabertooth was because of their celestial wizard, Yukino."

Lucy stepsped forward upon hearing this, interest rising inside of her. Jellal looked at Lucy in the eye before speaking.

"There's a legend, actually not a legend, a true story that very few knows about. Acnologia was defeated for the first time 400 years ago, by Anna Heartfilia."

Lucy stiffles a gasp and everyone looked to each other in shock.

"After opening the eclipse gate for the dragons, Anna got impatient in waiting for Acnologia's fall and decided to handle the beast herself. She found out the dragon's weakness, which is any attack of a power from another world.

Since the celestial spirits are not of our world, their attacks would harm Acnologia who is immune to our attacks. Anna went on a journey, collecting all twelve Zodiac keys and the thirteenth key to ensure absolute destruction.

However, her first attempt of defeating Acnologia by summoning all the spirits at once was a failure. But led to her discovery of the eclipse forms of the celestial spirits, since that battle was taken place near the gate." Jellal explained.

Lucy shuddered at the memory of the celestial spirits in their eclipse forms.

Jellal continued, "Anna saw that the eclipse celestial spirits were much stronger, but they would not listen to her commands. After turning the spirits back to normal again, Anna got pieces of lacrima from the eclipse gate and inserted them into her keys which allowed her to automatically summon the spirits in their eclipse forms.

She goes on her second attempt of defeating Acnologia and was successful in pushing him back to submission. Acnologia was put into a frozen stasis by Opiachus, the thirteenth spirit. Then ten years later, Acnologia unfroze from the stasis and continued to roam the world for a suitable challenger."

Lucy has fallen to the ground on her knees, her breathing was irregular.

Everybody else is whispering amongst each other, they were in complete shock of the words that just came out of Jellal's mouth. He decided to wait for them to stop talking before speaking again.

"You see, there's another way to defeat Acnologia and it actually worked 400 years ago. Every few years or so, celestial wizards who know of the legend would attempt the same thing Anna did, but few were successful."

Jellal gestured towards Lucy, "Lucy...you have Anna's blood running through you veins, I believe you and Yukino may have a chance of being successful in this."

Natsu jumped after having to sit still this entire time.

"Hold on! Even if Lucy can do this, it's still way too dangerous for her or Yukino to even be near Acnologia! Not to mention that we still have the guys from Zeref's Empire to deal with!"

Jellal looked sternly at Natsu.

"Exactly, that's why the dragonslayers are here...along with all of the ones who'll give their lives to protect the celestial wizards...Lucy and Yukino won't be in danger as you keep them safe from Acnologia and all their enemies."

Meredy nodded, "Yeah, we've already told Sabertooth of this story and they formed a team that'll protect Yukino until she and Lucy gets to Acnologia. You guys should do the same!"

Erza immediately stepped forward, "Well, I volunteer to protect Lucy."

Wendy and Gajeel did the same.

"I'll protect Lucy as well!" The little girl cried.

"I guess bunnygirl is really something eh? Fine, count me in. I've been wanting a rematch with that Black Dragon since the S-Class trials."

Gray stepped forward, "If this means getting rid of Mr. Destruction, then I'm in. Besides, Lucy's a friend, and we're all here for her when she needs us the most."

Happy jumped towards Lucy to give her a hug.

"Aye! I won't let anyone hurt you!"

Natsu kneeled down to face her and squeezed her hands.

"We're all together on this, and I ain't going to let you or anyone else down this time."

Meredy smiled at the sight of the warm scene, "Well, I'm going to go and group together the guild members. We still need a force to keep the Alvarez people at bay while this plan goes underway."

She began to walk towards the direction of Magnolia. Jellal waved a farewell to her, "Meredy! Be careful!"

Meredy grinned, "Don't worry, I will!"

With that she disappeared into the night. Erza looked at Jellal.

"Why aren't you going to go with her Jellal?" she pointed out.

He turned around to face them, smiling a bit, "Because, I'm going to accompany Lucy until she and Yukino defeats Acnologia."

Everyone looked to him as if he was out of his mind.

"WHAT?!"

Jellal's smile disappeared as he turned away from the group. Erza was the first to ask him, "But why? I mean we appreciate it, but knowing you, there has to be some other intentions."

Jellal nodded slowly, "Yes. There's one more thing I need to tell you guys. Especially you, Natsu."

The whole forest fell silent as Jellal said these words: "Zeref has merged himself with Acnologia."

* * *

 _Somewhere in an unknown mountainous terrain. A few hours earlier..._

The Black Wizard Zeref had barely escaped from his own personal bodyguards. But he needed to meet with him. After the battle he had with Natsu and telling him the truth of his origins and their sibling relationship, Zeref is more than ready to give up his life.

However, thanks to that stupid blue cat, Natsu wasn't able to finish him off.

"And I doubt he's going to try to finish me off again. After knowing what would happen to him if he does." Zeref said to himself.

A scent of darkness filled the air and Zeref smiled at that familiar smell.

"He's here. Perfect."

Walking towards the direction of the source, Zeref thought over what he's about to do.

"Oh Natsu, you wouldn't be able to defeat me even if you have the power to. Your heart just won't be set in it. How about if I give you a little encouragement? With a new appearance."

In the distance by the edge of a large drop, stood a lone man in a long dark cape. Upon feeling the presence of the Black Wizard, the mysterious man turned around.

Zeref smiles gleefully, "Acnologia...it's been some time."

Acnologia acknowledges the wizard and just stood there.

"What do you want now Black Wizard? Have you finally decided to give me the challenge I wanted?"

Zeref shook his head, "No, I told you that the final battle will be between the human, the dragon, and the immortal. We are missing the human right now."

Acnologia grunts in disgust, "Then why did you come here? I have no business with you."

Zeref's eyes begin to glow bright red and an aura of darkness begins to surround him.

"Oh, you will have business with me, Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. You see...I need your body!"

Zeref emits a huge black wave of destruction, causing a very shocked Acnologia to go over the edge of the long drop.

A few seconds later, he emerged back up, this time in his dragon form.

He struck with one arm at the Black Wizard but Zeref dodged it easily. He retaliated by commanding dozens of destruction balls hurling towards the dragon.

But he merely knocked them away with just a flap of his powerful wings. The Dragon King then soared high into the air.

Zeref telepathically picked up a giant loose chunk of rock from the side of the mountain and broke it down into several tiny pieces. Glaring up above him, he preceded to shoot the chunks of rock towards Acnologia in midair.

Acnologia charged down, easily dodging the debris Zeref is hurling at him, and flying so fast, that the rocks immediately burned up as soon as he passed by them. He aimed straight towards Zeref.

Making contact with the Black Wizard, he successfully amd painfully knocked Zeref back a few feet. But not before the Black Wizard was able to hit Acnologia in the area of his missing arm limb with one of his signature black destruction balls. The Dragon King winced in pain as the impact left a deep burning scar.

Zeref smiled as he struggled to catch his breath. Acnologia ignored the pain and flapped his wings, soaring back up into the sky. He charged down again and knocked an unprepared Zeref against the ground. The Black Wizard was tired and did not try to crawl away to safety.

Up in the sky, the Dragon King prepared for his ultimate breath attack and pinpointed it down onto Zeref, who was not moving from his position. The roar of the Black Dragon comes hurtling down towards the surface.

Once it made contact, a great explosion was heard from almost every corner of the land.

Several minutes later, the dust and rocks had dissipated away, and Acnologia flies down towards what's left of the mountain terrain.

The whole area was now reduced to a large crater a few feet deeper than the ground. Looking around for the remains of the Black Wizard, Acnologia lets his guard down.

"And here I thought the Black Wizard would give me the challenge of my life. Looks like I was wrong...Ugh!"

A black mist suddenly rises from between the rubble and Zeref emerges from there. His body was now completely black, misty, and very ethereal-looking.

"You're right Acnologia. But that's because I'm not the one who'll be your challenger."

Acnologia struggles to breath as the black mist envelopes around him and Zeref's voice filled his head.

"Let me take you...to your rightful challenger!"

With that Zeref dissipated into the black mist and entered Acnologia's body. Acnologia transforms back into his human form, down on his knees and breathing heavily.

"What—what just happened..."

Feeling his body and holding his head, Acnologia realized that he is still in control of his own body.

He gets up and begins walking away from the area.

"I'll never understand you Black Wizard, what's the point of entering my body if you can't even control me?"

Zeref's conscience relaxes inside the body of the Dragon King, finally at ease.

 _Natsu...would you kill me now?_

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! It makes me really happy to see the little numbers on the traffic graph go up!**


	3. Start of the Last Adventure

**Disclaimer: All credits for characters and setting goes to Hiro! Inspiration goes to Square Enix!**

 **Thank for all the views! Seriously, it makes my day just seeing all those little numbers go up!**

* * *

 **Ch. 3: Start of the Last Adventure**

The next day, the Fairy Tail team stopped by a small local town to get some supplies and shop for food. Jellal finally makes contact with the Sabertooth guild, who are planning on meeting them at the capital city of Crocus.

"It's the closest place we both are to. So it makes sense," Sting replied.

Jellal nodded, "Alright, see you there in a few days. And make sure to keep Yukino safe."

Sting just grinned and waves a hand, "Don't worry, we got it under the bag. Yukino has the three keys and Lucy has the ten others. You just make sure you keep the blondie safe as well."

"Will do," Jellal responds as the communication lacrima went out.

Erza and Wendy walks up from behind him.

"Well? What's the plan?" Erza asks.

Jellal smiled, "Lets finish up our errands here and get going before nightfall. We'll travel to Crocus through the flatlands. It's risky, but it's quick."

Wendy looked a bit uneasy. Jellal kneels down to the young girl's level.

"How are you holding up Wendy?"

She smiled, but it was a shy smile, "I'm fine, really. It's just that you remind me so much of Mystogan and traveling like this with you again makes me feel...good inside. But it also makes me feel nervous at the same time."

Jellal scatched the back of his head, not knowing how to answer this.

"Umm, I'm glad that it makes you feel good, but please don't feel uneasy around me. I know I'm not Mystogan but I could try if you'd like."

Wendy shook her head, "No, it's fine. I like you the way you are right now!"

Gray and Gajeel appeared from a nearby shop and comes towards them, carrying several bags of food and bottles of water.

Gajeel placed them down on the ground in front of him.

"There we go. That's all the supplies we'll be needing," he said.

Erza carefully counted the bags and bottles on the ground, "Good. Now that we're stocked, where's Natsu and Lucy? We should get going to Crocus soon."

Gray points in the direction of the local merchant guild.

"Probably in there. Lucy wanted to see if her father was ever in relations with the guild before."

* * *

Inside the guild, Lucy was examining a large photo of a younger version of her father on the wall. Natsu and Happy were playing signal with a few other men to gain some spendable cash for their trip.

A merchant lady walks up to Lucy and smiles at her.

"Ah, so you're the young daughter of Jude Heartfilia! You're always welcome here. Jude may have spent more time at Love and Lucky but this was the place where he first practiced how to make a business," the lady said.

Lucy smiled sadly, "If only I got to know my father more back then...then I would've known about this place already..."

The merchant lady gives her a reassuring pat.

"Don't drag yourself in the past. Look towards the bright future! Although I don't know how the outcome of the war we're having with the other continent will be. Oh well! I'll just keeping on working through each day, bye! It's been good talking to you."

Lucy looked back at the photo of her father hanging on the wall.

"I promise merchant lady, I'll make sure the outcome of this war will be a promising one."

Over on a round table by the left side of the guild, Natsu and Happy looked at each other fearfully and then looked at their cards. Their opponents, two middle-aged men, smirked and teased them for betting too much confidence.

"It's ok though newbies. Happens everytime on the first try," the first man comforted.

Natsu and Happy suddenly grinned at each other.

Natsu called for Lucy, "Hey Lucy! Get over here!"

"Signal!" Happy cried.

He sets down his set of cards at the same time as Natsu. The two sets were perfectly matched. Natsu and Happy won the game.

The two men's cigarettes fell from their mouths in astonishment.

"It can't be...it's not possible..."

Natsu and Happy laughed as they picked up the two large bags of jewels, their prize money, "Thanks for the good game!"

Lucy runs over to them and asked, "What good game? Eh!? There's no way you guys won that game! It required teamwork!"

Natsu looked confused, "What do you mean? We have good teamwork."

Lucy sighed, "Actually, you're more of a one man show...but I guess you do have some good teamwork when with Happy."

Happy grinned, "That's right! And now, we'll have to be more of a team than ever if you're going to have a chance of defeating the Dragon King!"

"What does that mean? Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to do the job without you guys!? I'll have you know that I have Anna's blood running through me—" Lucy reminded.

Natsu ignores her and walks out the door towards the others.

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

Lucy becomes very annoyed, "Don't you ignore me!"

Gray shouted to the three of them, "Hey guys! If you're done wasting your time over there, then get over here! We're leaving soon!"

Natsu, Lucy, and Happy all rushed over.

* * *

Erza and Gray give them their share of food and water.

"This should be enough to get us to Crocus. We'll meet with Sabertooth there. Come on, hurry! There's no time to lose!" Erza commanded.

Gray agreed, "Yeah. Don't forget that our goal is to defeat Acnologia and Zeref, the faster we get that done, that faster we can restore peace to Fiore!"

This caused Natsu to get mad, "You think I don't know that Ice-freak? I learned of our goal long before you did, so don't try to boss me around!"

"Well I won't if you would stop acting so casual and get serious already! This is about defeating our two greatest threats for crying out loud! Not to mention Lucy's life is being on the line here!" Gray retorted.

"I have to agree with the ice boy here, salamander. You've been way too light," Gajeel smirked.

Natsu was burning up with anger, "You make it sound like I don't care for Lucy! Or about being successful! I'll have you know—"

Lucy shouted at the both of them, having had enough of the bickering.

"QUIET! We're all taking things seriously here! My life isn't the only one on the line right now, but all of ours! I want to vanquish Acnologia and Zeref as much as the next person, but we can't do that if we don't start working together like a real team. This is about giving our people the best future they can get. And delivering that to them!"

Jellal puts his hand on her shoulder and nods in approvement, "Well said, Miss Lucy. That's the true spirit of a strong wizard. Now, let's get going."

Jellal leads the way towards the plains, with Gray and Erza close behind him. Erza walks up to his side.

"Hey about back there," She began. "I think it's cute the way you interact with Wendy! You two look like brother and sister!"

Jellal cleared his throat in embarassment, "Ahem, we do not."

Gray snickered at this comment and slowed his pace down a bit to talk to Wendy about that topic. At the back of the line. Natsu and Lucy walk along side each other.

Natsu looks to Lucy, who's staring off into the distance.

"What's the long look for?" He asks.

Lucy blinked, "Huh? Oh, sorry. I'm just trying to enjoy the places around me...in case things won't work out for us in the end..."

Natsu walked closer to her, "Hey about that bickering with Gray. It's not true, I do actually take this thing seriously. And I'm going to see to it that we'll all make it through alive."

Lucy gently smiled, "Thank you, that means a lot to me."

* * *

By mid-afternoon, the Fairy Tail team is about half-way through the plains and is beginning to encounter some forested areas as they near Crocus. They decide to take a break inside the little forested area and Erza sets up a picnic—that she hopes won't be destroyed this time.

Wendy, Happy, and surprisingly—Gajeel decide to help with setting up the blanket and the food while the rest of the team went ahead into the forest to scare any lurking enemies.

Jellal leads the way while Natsu, Lucy, and Gray follow close behind. Natsu stetches out his arms in the large open space.

"Man, this forest is tiny but it's trees are so spaced apart!"

Jellal agreed, "Mmhmm. The people often cut down trees here, so over time, the trees are not as crowded as they used to be."

Gray looked around in curiosity, "This is cool and everything but I don't see any threats so far. Think we should go back to Erza's picnic?"

Lucy nodded in agreement, hearing her stomach rumble.

"Yeah, I mean we don't want it to be ruined again! And this time, she actually brought some strawberry cake!"

Jellal stopped in his tracks to laugh, "I know, I know. That's why I brought a spare just in case. And we're not going back just yet. Here, this is the area I wanted to reach."

They are in front of a large overgrowth of trees and bushes. Natsu looked at it incredulously.

"Whoa man, I don't think anyone can cut through those...unless I burn it with my fire!"

Gray hits him on the head before he could even try, "Would you cut it out already? We don't want to set a forest fire!"

Lucy carefully walked away from the bickering duel again and stood behind Jellal.

He concentrates and puts his hand on the middle the centre tree trunk and his magic power begins to stir.

"Open," he says.

The tree trunks move away along with the rest of the vines and bushes. All three wizards look at the opening. Jellal turns around and motions for them to follow him through.

"What you are waiting for? Come on."

They all enter the opening and on the other side was revealed to be a large hot springs with surrounding trees and beautifully smelling plants. Lucy's eyes went all sparkly upon the sight of the springs.

"Ahhhh. Jellal, you're a life-saver! We've been needing some time of actual rest!"

Natsu was rather annoyed, quite contrary to Lucy's reaction.

"Are you kidding me? You led us all the way here so we could take a bath!?"

Gray shrugged, "I don't know. But we do kind of need the rest."

Natsu looked at Gray, shocked, "What? Are you serious?"

Jellal nervously laughed, "Actually I just thought that this might make a better place for Erza's picnic...but if you guys want to relax in the hot springs then be my guest."

Natsu complained to Jellal, "What? You too man?"

* * *

 _A little while later._

Erza, Lucy, and Wendy all rest in the hot springs with their swimsuits.

Erza sighed, "Ahh...now this feels good. And combined with the two strawberry cakes, I'm already in heaven!"

Lucy nodded in agreement and whips her hair around to dry it of the water.

"I'm starting to love this journey already!"

Wendy swims over to the little waterfall and attempted to float on her back. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Gray, Happy, and Gajeel in the distance, the blue cat teasing the ice mage.

"Aww, what's the matter Gray? Scared of a little hot water?" Happy teased.

Gajeel crossed his arms and groaned, "Will you just jump in already? If you're not, then get of the way and let me take dive! This is the only deep spot in the entire springs!"

Gray shook his head, though he couldn't stop the large beads of sweat pouring off him.

"Nope. I'm not scared at all, it's just a little warmer than usual for me..."

Happy suddenly began pushing him forward, "If you're perfectly fine, then take a dip!"

Gray began to panic, "No! Wait! Wait! I don't want to get in with a bunch of girls!"

In the distance, Jellal and Natsu sat on the picnic blanket, watching the scene unfold at the hot springs. Jellal laughed at Gray's reaction while Natsu grunted in disgust.

"Come one man. Even I can jump into cold water butt naked with a bunch of ladies."

Jellal faced the fire dragonslayer, "I doubt it, you wouldn't what to do once you're in the water. At least Gray has some common sense around women."

"What? So are you going to give me tips in dating?" Natsu questioned.

"Not really, but I might have to if you're ever want to step up your game with the celestial wizard over there," Jellal pointed at Lucy.

Natsu looks over to the hot springs where Gray is now in and being splashed by Lucy and Wendy.

"Who? Lucy? We're just good friends, and besides, I'm not the only protecting her, we're all in this together. Even you."

Jellal shakes his head in disappointment, "'Good friends' aren't as close as you two are. There's something about your relationship with Lucy. No matter how much you piss her off, or make her mad, or barge into her home, she'll always be like 'c'mon Natsu! Lets go find a job!' in the end."

Natsu shrugged all of that away.

"That's because she's the type to forgive people easily, it's part of what makes her amazing—"

Jellal pointed a finger at Natsu, "There's the proof. You see, you do harbour feelings towards her, don't try to hold them back."

Natsu scoffed, "Like what you did with your woman?"

Jellal sighed, while wracking his head, "Yes, but I'm considered lucky that Erza is also the forgivable type. What I'm trying to say is don't make the same mistake I did."

Natsu tilts his head, looking deep in thought. Jellal began to feel uneasy at this stare.

"Uhhhhh, Natsu?"

The pink-haired dragonslayer suddenly, began to laugh.

"You, I've find it a bit funny, seeing the way you are now. And comparing the way you were back at the Tower of Heavan. You're so...different. And yet during the time at the Tower of Heaven, you still proved that you could feel emotions...that you could love..."

Jellal smiled softly at Natsu, "Yes...I guess then it's possible for him to feel feelings of love as well..."

"Huh?" Natsu asks.

"Zeref...it's possible for him to feel human emotions..." Jellal whispered.

The blue-haired wizard saint then gets up and walked towards the edge of the picnic blanket where his bag lay.

Taking something out of the bag, Jellal said, "I've been keeping this safe since the day Ultear passed on. It was thanks to her bravery and stupidity to infiltrate the Alvarez Empire, that she managed to get this."

Jellal turns around with the item in his arm. It was a large dusty black book with a beautiful swirly design on it and a magic lock.

Across the top of the cover, written in silver caligraphy, was 'Memoirs of Zeref.'

* * *

 **It has now been a few days since Fairy Tail left Magnolia to go on this journey. Their goal right now is to meet up with Sabertooth, who are in Crocus waiting for them. If you guys could review on how I can improve my writing, please do!**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	4. The Memoirs of Zeref

**I do not own the anything that belongs to Hiro Mashima. Thank you Square Enix for giving me the power to write this story!**

 **I loved writing this chapter! Zeref is my absolute, favourite character in all of FT, and I simply adore his past. I've always blamed his backstory on the way he is now, I mean, that poor has been through hell! Give him a break Mashima!**

* * *

 **Ch. 4: The Memoirs of Zeref**

Natsu stared at the book in Jellal's arm, who motioned for Natsu to come around into an area where the rest of the team in the hot springs won't see them. They sat down as Jellal sets the book carefully on the ground right between them.

Natsu is still stunned at the sight of the book and didn't look at Jellal when he began speaking.

"This book, _the Memoirs of Zeref_...is this his personal journal?" Natsu asked.

Jellal remained still, "I don't know. I've never opened it since Ultear hid it somewhere for safety reasons. After her death, I've eventually found this right here in this area."

The tensions began to rise as Natsu and Jellal both looked at the book, desperately wanting to know what's written inside of it.

"But why Jellal? Why are you revealing this now? And to me of all people?"

Jellal activated his magic in his right hand, a soft land emitting from it.

"Because it's an invasion of privacy to read one's life stories. I have no right to do that, even if this is Zeref's journal! But you, being his one and only brother, should have the right to know about your family."

With that, Jellal puts his hand on the magic lock and turned the light into darkness as he concentrated. After a few seconds, the lock clicked and turned, allowing the book to be opened.

Natsu's eyes grew wide as he slowly flipped the cover of the book open, revealing the secrets of Zeref's and his early life.

* * *

 _Film projection of Zeref's Memoir..._

 _A young Zeref rocked impatiently on the bench inside a large house. He jumped up and walked towards the large doors, where he attempted to peek through the high window._

 _A man with spiky black hair and dark eyes appeared behind him and gently scooped him up._

 _"Now, now, Zeref. You must be patient. Good things come to those who wait."_

 _Zeref groaned and made his irresistable puppy eyes._

 _"But dad, it's almost sunrise and we got here like early morning! How long is mommy going to be inside for?" He begged._

 _Zeref's father ruffled his son's hair and chuckled, "Soon, my boy. Soon."_

 _With that, he disappeared through the large doors. Zeref continued to wait for someone to come out, or for something new to happen. He eventually fell asleep on the bench until just a little before sunrise._

 _"Zeref...Zeref..." a voice called out to him in his sleep._

 _The little dark haired boy opened his eyes to see his father gently rocking him awake._

 _"Zeref, it's time. You can come in now," his father said._

 _Zeref rubbed his eyes and yawned before jumping off the bench and walking with his father through the doors. Inside lied his pink haired mother, looking exhausted on the bed and two medical experts nearby._

 _Zeref's mother called out to him, "Zeref love, come here."_

 _Zeref walked over to the side of the bed and climbed on, being careful not to fall on top of his mother. Once he got near her, Zeref could see his mother cradling a little living form under a bundle of blankets._

 _He had pink hair and large brown eyes, with the look of curiosity in them. Zeref couldn't help but smile and reach out to touch his little nose._

 _His mother smiled at this lovely scene, "What do you want to name him?"_

 _Zeref continued to makes hand gestures for the little baby._

 _"Tumbleweed," he said._

 _His father laughed at the name. "How about Zeref Jr.?" He suggested._

 _His mother shakes her head at these crazy names, "Lets just go with something simple and easy to remember by alright?"_

 _Zeref tilted his head innocently, "Like Asswiper?"_

 _His father's shoulders began shaking as his mother glared his father._

 _"Now where did you learn that word from?" He demanded strictly._

 _"From you daddy," Zeref simply answered.._

 _His mother sighed and forced a smile._

 _"We'll deal with this later, but lets focus more on naming this new addition to our family. Zeref, meet Natsu, your little brother."_

* * *

 _Fire, wind, rocks, and poison gas flooded across the entire town as everyone scrambled towards safety. Little Zeref was still at school when the dragon attack began. Since then, nobody was allowed to go home or contact their family._

 _Zeref runs through the halls with a few other students, desperately trying to get to the stairwell that leads to the underground shelter. His professor encouraged the students to get downstairs while he attempted to lure the attention of the large purple dragon away from the large gaping hole in the school's walls._

 _"Wind magic: Cyclone!" The professor shouted as three great twisters appeared around the dragon, slowing it down._

 _The professor turned back to the students, "Run! Get out of here!"_

 _Zeref stopped running as the other students around him continued to make their way to the stairs. He gazed from the large destroyed windows the burning town. Even though the school is at the top of a large hill, he could hear the screams and cries of pain coming from the people down below._

 _"Mom...dad...Natsu..." Zeref sniffed, tears streaming down his face. "I'm coming to save you!"_

 _With that, Zeref jumped out of the window and landed on the ground two stories below before anyone could stop him._

 _The purple dragon turned his attention to the young boy running down the hill towards the burning town, and attempted to claw at him. The attack was prevented by the appearance of several large rock walls._

 _A senior female student made several more rocks appear from the ground and shoot in the direction of the purple dragon._

 _"What are you doing out here? Get inside!" She commanded._

 _But Zeref didn't listen and continued to run closer and closer towards the town._

 _In the town, Zeref saw nothing but absolute horror. Nobody was screaming or yelling anymore, just silence and the sound of burning wood filled the air. Zeref is at complete lost of what to do and didn't realize he was already spotted by two dragons in the air._

 _The silver one shot down several beams of destructive light, and Zeref realized that coming down here was extremely stupid of him. He began running away, dodging the beams of light and bullet-like pebbles being shot from the deep red dragon._

 _He was about to make to the school's hill again when he suddenly tripped and falls. Unable to get up, Zeref decided to accept his fate here. He waited for the attack that never came._

 _A young man with the power of speed and teleportation carried him away at the last second._

 _"You alright little buddy? Hang in there, I'll get you out," the man assured, carrying Zeref in his arms and speeding across the entire town._

 _As they sped through the town, Zeref caught sight the town's factory of TNT and his eyes widened. The man also caught sight of it and began running in the opposite direction._

 _"Wait! Mister! We can't let the flames get to that building! Mister!" Zeref cried._

 _The man just smiled at Zeref and gradually, stopped running._

 _"Be safe little buddy."_

 _The man held Zeref up and threw him out of town with all his might, and into the nearby forest surrounding the area. Zeref gets up from the ground after landing and turned around...just as the great explosion happened._

 _His little body gets thrown back a few feet and this time, the impact rendered him unconscious._

 _The next morning, Zeref woke up and rubbed his aching head._

 _"Ow...what happened? Gasp. The town!"_

 _He started running towards the town which by now, is reduced to nothing but rubble, wood, and dust. Zeref's eyes began to water and he fell to his knees._

 _"No...no! I'll find them!"_

 _He began running across the tops of the destroyed debris, desperately looking for any trace of his parents or Natsu. After several hours of searching, he eventually came across a little lump wrapped up inside a charred blanket. Zeref picks up the little object and unwraps it, only to see the lifeless body of his younger brother._

 _"Nat—natsu..."_

* * *

 _The professor looked at the research paper in astonishment._

 _"Did you create this?" He asked the young Zeref._

 _"Yes," Zeref replied._

 _"It's very good, but the subject is a bit dark. In the future, please refrain from writing such things alright? You don't want to stir the anger of the god Ankhseram."_

 _Zeref walked away holding the papers the professor returned to him._

 _"I just wanted to know why people are born and die..." he sighed._

 _A teenaged Zeref sat at his desk inside the academy, revising his plans in creating his next big creation._

 _"Alright so, so far I've made the eclipse, the R-system, and what else? Oh right! I can't finish that until I've gotten the R-system approved of!" He cried proudly._

 _Zeref began sribbling notes down on a sheet of paper on plans to get his project approved by the professors. He sighs and looks out the window at the night sky._

 _"Just wait a little while longer please. I promise I'll bring you back...Natsu"_

 _Someone suddenly knocked on the door._

 _"Come in," Zeref called._

 _The head professor entered the room, looking very stressed and uncomfortable._

 _"Zeref, I thought we told you to stop these dark projects. How much more is it going to take?" He asked._

 _"Please professor, if you only give me the time and supplies, I could work in this somewhere off campus, it'll be a lot safer. Please, this means a lot to me," Zeref begged._

 _The professor shook his head, "Zeref, I'm sorry but we won't be giving you any more time or supplies, or any more education here either. The staff here at the academy already decided on your expulsion."_

 _Zeref gets up from his table, eyes wide and fists shaking._

 _"No...please no! This can't be happening..."_

 _Suddenly, he felt a shot of pain through his forehead, and he held it to keep it from spreading. A black aura began rising from his entire body and it grew larger and larger._

 _Zeref began to tremble in fear, "What's happening to me?"_

 _The professor also trembled in fear._

 _"This is the rage of Ankhseram..."_

 _Before he knew it, the whole school flashed from its original bright colours, to several shades of black and white, then everything and everyone fell silent._

 _Zeref felt the pain go away and he stood up straight, only to see the body of the professor lying on the floor before him. Zeref ran over to him and tried to shake him awake._

 _"Professor...professor! Please somebody! Anybody! Come help! Guys?"_

 _Zeref stepped outside his room and into the hallways of the academy. Everywhere, he saw the lifeless bodies of his former students, teachers, friends, and classmates. Even the trees and flowers that were growing around the school had died. Zeref looked down at his hands._

 _"So this is the curse of Ankhseram..."_

* * *

 _"Arise. Etherious number 35: Deliora!" Zeref cried as he raised up his arms._

 _The earth began to shake and the sky turned to a grayish blue colour as the crystal containing the demon glowed. Zeref concentrated on the demon's book, the Book of Deliora, and light flowed from the individual words on each page._

 _All the light flowed into the glowing crystal, causing it to shatter, and for the great demon rised up and out, shooting into the sky. The rocks and snow on the ground began to clear away as Deliora took its first few steps._

 _Gathering up its own destructive power, the demon unleashes it into the land down below the high mountaintops, causing a great avalanche to occur and double the amount of destruction. Deliora walks around, knocking over everything down that's in its path._

 _Zeref watched as the demon continued its path of destruction._

 _He examined his newest creation, "Hmm. It's destructive power is quite impressive considering the amount of effort I've put into making that thing. But can it end me?"_

 _Zeref telepathically picked up a large boulder and hurls it Deliora, attracting the demon to the Black Wizard._

 _Deliora stops in front of Zeref and began to glow as he prepared a massive destruction blow. As the power is released directly on top of Zeref, he merely smiled._

 _After the attack is finished, the land around it has been flattened and burned...but Zeref is standing as if nothing hit him._

 _Deliora continued on past him, preparing to descend the mountain to destroy more to come._

 _Zeref didn't allow the demon to take one step further._

 _He grunted, "Failure. Time to go back to where you belong."_

 _The Black Wizard snapped his fingers, causing the demon to stop in its tracks and fade back into the book where it came from. Zeref sighs as he eyed the destruction caused by his newest demon._

 _He began walking back down the mountain and across several plains, forests, and deserts until he got to the place of his destination: a large abandoned library that was part of the academy he once attended over a decade ago._

 _Going to the main room which is full of books scattered all over the ground, Zeref threw the Book of Deliora with the rest of the books of demons he made in the past._

 _"Hopefully, the next one I'm about to finish will be the end of me," Zeref said as he walked towards a large study room._

 _Opening the door, he walked inside to see potentially, his greatest creation ever made. There encased in crystal was the body of his younger brother Natsu._

 _"Hello there, Natsu. Did you miss me? You were always the impatient one back then."_

 _The desk nearby had an unfinished book on top of its surface. Zeref walked over to scan over the opened pages, checking for any errors or need for revisions._

 _"So far, so good...this will be the best of my creations. The creator of the power of curses, the strongest demon of them all, he will be in legends and feared all over the land, even the demons I've already made would envy him and worship him. You hear that Natsu? Or should I say Etherious Natsu Dragneel?" Zeref turned around to face the crystal._

 _He smiled gently as he walked up to the crystal and touched the surface of where Natsu's hand is underneath._

 _"END...you've always said you wanted to be the best there is. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't grant your wish?"_

* * *

 _Zeref was walking around the forest looking for a place to rest._

 _"I hope you're in better hands now Natsu. Igneel deserves to see you grow up, instead of me. How long has it been now? Has the dragons' plan finally come into action?"_

 _He wandered deeper into the forest, which is close to a town called Magnolia. It's been more than almost three centuries and Zeref continued to live in a secluded lifestyle, avoiding all contact with people._

 _He's seen nations being built and destroyed, wars being ravaged and taking thousands of lives with it, and great people rising and falling. But Zeref has had enough of this. Even after all those years, nobody had the power to destroy him._

 _He's close to giving up on the idea of dying and decided to instead do what he can and enjoy what he can in this immortal body. He's made the Alvarez Empire in the western continent, and the people there call him Emperor Spriggan._

 _Zeref stopped by a peaceful looking lake, "The people in my empire aren't people I care for, only pawns. Therefore, I cannot harm them. As long as I look at people like that, I won't cause anymore death."_

 _He removed his robes and stepped into the cool cleansing water, finally able to relax._

 _"The people here know nothing but fighting and destruction. Why did I even bother to come here? I should've known that wizard guild was trouble the minute I say its name. But still, what kind of people were in that little band of odd mismatches? I'll give them credit for having the courage to challenge such an opponent."_

 _After a few minutes, Zeref decides to leave the lake. Suddenly, the bushes nearby rattled and he turned to see no one._

 _It wasn't until he he looked to the left of him that he realized a young girl kneeling by the side of lake, looking very depressed. She looked about the age of thirteen and had long wavy blonde hair and large green eyes, which immediately shot up and looked at him._

 _The girl's face turned red and she looked away._

 _"I'm so sorry! I didn't think anybody would be here!"_

* * *

 _Zeref smiled as he finished teaching the last bits of magic to Mavis and her group of friends. They were the ones attacking the wizard guild, Blue Skull in order to retrieve the Tenrou Jade, which is sacred to Mavis's hometown on Tenrou Island._

 _This is the first time in many years that Zeref was close with people, and that the people were happy around him. This made him feel positive emotions that he thought he'd forgotten so long ago._

 _Mavis runs over to Zeref, her long wavy hair trailing behind her._

 _"Thank you so much for teaching us magic Mr. Black Wizard! We're very much in your debt!"_

 _Zeref smiled at her innocence, "I'm glad to be helpful to you good people. But I shouldn't stay here any longer, for it's dangerous for me to."_

 _Mavis looked worried, "Oh? Well, if you say so, I won't force you to stay if you don't want to. I'm sure we'll meet again...Zeref!"_

 _He resisted the urge to give her a hug._

 _"I'm sure we'll meet again if the fates say so...Mavis."_

* * *

 _Sitting by the window of his room, Zeref, now known as Emperor Spriggan gazed through the window, deep in thought._

 _"It's an all out war now. Between the eastern continent and the west. But it's really between us and Fairy Tail. Lumen Histoire...I will receive it...and free it. Would that make you happy? Mavis?"_

 _Two members of the Spriggan 12, Zeref's top elite group of fighters entered the room. Ajeel and Invel comes in._

 _"Your Majesty, preparations had been done and we're ready to send the foreces oversea on your command," Invel reported._

 _"Yeah, just be sure I'll be be on the front lines where everything's going to be a blast," Ajeel said with excitement._

 _Zeref stood up and walked past the two wizards and down towards the outside terrace._

 _"Thank you Invel. And I'll consider that Ajeel. But I told you, this war won't be lead by me, but by you members of Spriggan 12. So don't ask for my command again."_

 _Invel looked perplexed, "But Your Majesty, the reason you wanted to go to war again is to retrieve the Lumen Histoire. Which is, if I did my homework right, the crystalized body of your past lover?"_

 _Zeref shook his head._

 _"She's no longer living, so she's lost her place in my world. Though...I only say that...she still makes me feel pain. But there's something else. I was hoping that this war would drive the emotions of Fairy Tail up again and cause them to attack full force."_

 _Ajeel nodded, "Yeah! Then we'll be getting a real fight on our hands! No holding back!"_

 _Invel silenced his loud comrade._

 _"But that would mean less chances of our victory! Not that I'm not confident of our forces, but Fairy Tail is powerful when they put their hearts into it. Not to mention their dragonslayers are not to be messed with."_

 _Zeref smiled into the distance, "Exactly...come forth Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail...grant me my one wish."_

* * *

 _Zeref sets up the recording lacrima and sits down in the forest with a large lake behind him. Zeref's face looked peaceful and almost innocent as he stared at the lacrima. He spoke in a calm and clear voice, with a tone of seriousness and docileness at the same time._

 _"Hey, I uh, I don't really know why I'm recording this last entry for my journal, but...I'm doing it anyways. Maybe out of instinct or in false hope that somebody might actually see this one day. Well, if somebody does, then I hope it'll be you...Natsu._

 _Listen, I'm speaking here not as 'the great Black Wizard', or 'the Mage of death', or 'Emperor Spriggan', no. None of those titles people give me. I'm just talking here as a person. Zeref Dragneel. No more, no less. So whatever I say, it's not out of intentions that people assume I have." Zeref sighed and looked down at the ground before continuing._

 _"I...I just want you to know that everything I've done, everything that's been done because of me...I feel...regrets and no regrets for at the same time. I guess being alive for this long caused me to take things for granted too easily, people are born, people die, so what? It's a natural cycle of life, get used to it._

 _I've never taken the people in my years of immortality with value since Mavis's death...until I met my younger brother again, that day on Tenrou Island...I've never felt so much emotions well up inside of me since that day." The camera rolled off the side a bit, and Zeref rushed forward to quickly readjust it again before returning to his sitting spot._

 _"Now, uh, where was I? Oh right, since that day, I've thought of nobody else but Natsu. I thought about how his life was like, who his friends are, whether or not he finally learned some patience, or if he ever broke down sobbing once. Back then, I was usually the crier of the family. I was always so sensitive to pain...but Natsu, he was strong, he had a huge heart and was always full of spite._

 _So even if he is crying right now, or feeling any sort of immense pain...I know he'll be able to move on and continue his life's journey._

 _We may be enemies in this war but he is stil my younger brother...and I, well uh...never mind, I shouldn't really be doing this. I'm just about done anyways. So farewell, Natsu."_

* * *

End of Memoirs entries

* * *

 **This is not exactly how I pictured for Zeref's past to look like, but this was the only way for me to fit it all into one chapter. Maybe one day, I'll do a series of Zeref's childhood and adolescence. (No promises there...)**


	5. Meeting up in Crocus

**These disclaimers are starting to get a little irrating. Maybe I should just post the same one over and over again to avoid the need to constantly change the way I write it...**

 **Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **Alright! Fairy Tail and Sabertooth are finally together now! Rivals back at the Grand Magic Games, and partners on this final journey to save the world! Sniff...it's so beautiful...I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't even cry right now (just me overreacting). Save those tears for the end!**

* * *

 **Ch. 5: Meeting up in Crocus**

Natsu and Jellal stare at the final projection of Zeref's journal entry. They don't say a word as Natsu slowly closes the book of Zeref's memoirs. The whole place turned quiet, only the sound of water splashing could be heard at the hot springs, but the group is just relaxing by the water, not playing around anymore.

Jellal looked over to a severely trembling Natsu, who couldn't take his eyes off the cover of the book.

"Natsu, are you alright?" Jellal asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just, a lot to take in..." Natsu answered..

"Did you see it?" Jellal asked.

Natsu was dumbfounded, "See what?"

Jellal stared intently at Natsu, trying to see if the dragonslayer is hiding that fact. But Natsu truly didn't know what Jellal was talking about. Jellal decided to further explain what he meant.

"The true face of Zeref. It was quite obvious that he does indeed feel pain and suffering, he just doesn't express it well."

Natsu just stared in front of him, silent and thinking deep.

"I see...I—I never knew that _that's_ what he has been through...and what—that's what _I've_ been through. He seemed like he really wanted to die at the beginning when he received the curse, but then he just gave up in the middle...until up to now. Going as far as merging with Acnologia, in order to die."

Jellal nodded and stood up, picking the book up as well.

"Zeref, had already accepted his fate. He knew his death is inevitable, he's just waiting for it to come. He never gave up on trying to end it. But he instead tried to live like a normal mortal being would, until death comes," Jellal said.

The whole group from the hot springs returned to the picnic area, all dried and dressed and ready to go.

Erza called out for Jellal and Natsu, "Hey you two, lets get a move on. We've rested enough and need to get to Crocus before dark."

"It shouldn't take too long now that we're all refueled," Gray added.

Natsu and Jellal went over to help pick up the picnic items and fold the blanket. As soon as they're finished, Lucy eagerly led the way out.

"Come on, lets go."

The group walked towards the opening between the trees to continue onwards. Natsu followed behind this time, not going as fast as he was before. Jellal, who was walking in front of Natsu, suddenly turned around and stopped.

"Wait," Jellal said.

Natsu groaned, "What is it now?"

Jellal paused for a moment before speaking.

"Zeref. He loved you. And I believe he still does now."

Breathing heavily, Natsu gazed at the ground before facing Jellal.

He crossed his arms, "And that concerns me why?"

Jellal sighed at Natsu's laid back attitude.

"It's true Natsu. He just doesn't have the courage to say so," he insisted.

Natsu scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"I guess...But what's important right now is protecting Lucy until she and Yukino can defeat Acnologia."

Jellal reluctantly accept that answer from Natsu, and he rushed to catch up the rest of the group, who is already ahead.

Natsu called out from behind, "Hey, wait up!"

* * *

 _A few hours later._

By the time the team reached Crocus, it was beginning to get dark and so, they decided to stop by a local inn and contact Sabertooth as to where they currently are. Wendy, Gajeel and Jellal sit around the communication lacrima, waiting for Sabertooth to answer.

Rogue and Orga appeared a few minutes later.

Wendy waved to them, "Hi guys. It's been awhile."

"I guess it has. Kind of lost track of time since our days of being on the battlefield with Alvarez," Rogue agreed.

Memories of the battlefields flashed through their minds, and they shuddered from the casualties they had to face and endure daily.

Orga pushed Rogue out of the way, "Don't worry lil'lady. I'll raise all our spirits up with this new song of mine! _I had a dre—"_

Yukino appeared behind Orga and kicks him in the crotch.

"Thank you but that isn't important right now," she sternly scolded.

Gajeel leaned in closer to the lacrima. His face was appalled, "How dare you ruin what could've been a beautiful song! Orga once I get there, you'd better sing that to me!"

Lucy rushes over the lacrima upon hearing the familiar voice of the white-haired celestial mage.

"Yukino! It's been too long!" She exclaimed.

Yukino smiled brightly upon seeing the fellow celestial wizard.

"Lucy! I'm glad that we're going to see each other soon! Can you believe it? We actually have a chance of defeating Acnologia here. I never thought I'd be involved in something as big as this in my life," Yukino gasped.

Lucy winked and gaveher a thumbs up.

"Believe it. Don't worry so much, we've got our friends by our sides. We're all in this together. And it's for everybody in Ishgar, not just us."

Yukino nodded, smiling, "Mm."

Jellal raised a hand to silence everyone.

"Alright now, prep talk is over. Rogue, we're in Crocus right now. Where are you guys?" He asked.

"We're in the royal palace. Princess Hisui offered us her hospitality upon hearing our plan in defeating Acnologia. She wants to help," Rogue explained.

Natsu, Gray and Erza all rushed over.

"Tell her no. We can't risk the life of royalty here. It'll be too much for us to bear if something goes wrong," Gray cried.

Hisui appeared behind Sabertooth and walked up beside Rogue.

"Actually, I'll be joining you on your journey as fellow wizard," the princess of Fiore explained.

Yukino, Rogue, and Orga were shocked to see the princess suddenly appear before them.

Hisui smiled warmly, "At ease. Please let me help you, as you had helped me and my people back during the Grand Magic Games. I have a lot of knowledge on this matter concerning the defeat of Acnologia by Anna Heartfilia long ago."

Natsu shook his head, "Still. I don't you know the danger you're about to be in. Acnologia is not a force to be messed with."

The princess looked at everyone with intense eyes. She was not backing off on her choice.

"I'm sorry but I've already made up my mind. I will be coming with you on your journey, you will need me. I'm going to send Arcadios down to the inn you're staying at. We'll meet you here at the palace."

The lacrima goes off after that. The whole place became quiet. Gray was the first to speak.

"Well looks like we'll have one new addition to our team."

Erza crossed her arms and smiled, "The princess's will is strong. She's willing to risk herself for her people."

Natsu stretched out his arms and walked around the room, "Well. She hasn't changed one bit since the Grand Magic Games."

Lucy and Wendy looked concerned.

"I hope nothing'll happen to the princess if she does stay with us," Wendy said. Lucy stood up.

"She'll be fine. She was with us during the time when the celestial spirits turned into their eclipse forms. I'm sure we'll all make it through this together!" She cried.

Jellal stood up and puts away the communication lacrima, "We should go outside now. In case Arcadios comes by, we need to get to the palace as soon as possible."

With that, everyone went outside.

* * *

The sky has now darkened into a deep blue with stars dotting among the darkness. Natsu looked around the streets and the buildings, breathing in the air deeply.

"Ahh. This reminds of the time when we first came here to participate in the Grand Magic Games," he sighed.

Lucy smiled softly at that memory and looked to the ground, "Yeah...it was something that would never be forgotten."

Natsu understood the look of pain on her face. It must've been hard for her to see her own future self die right in front of her eyes. And it was hard for him to see that too. But now, he wasn't about to let that happen to the Lucy standing right before him.

"If we do defeat Acnologia. Nobody will forget that day, nor the people who were involved in it," he explained, trying to encourage the celestial mage.

Suddenly a large man clad in armour came up from down the street. It was Arcadios.

"Hello there, Fairy Tail. Welcome back."

Jellal quickly shook his head, "I'm not really a part of Fairy Tail. I'm just accompanying them."

Erza stepped up beside him, "But. Anyone who'd do that out of their way for our guild, is considered a member of our family."

Jellal smiled at her warmly, grateful that she backed him up.

Arcadios nodded, "I see. And that's what makes you one of the best guilds of all. Now come, the princess and your friends are waiting for you at the palace. We must hurry."

Arcadios led the way down the twisting streets of Crocus. Everyone follows him all the way to the courtyard of the palace.

* * *

Arcadios brought the group to the west side of the palace, near Hisui's quarters. They entered a large room with great windows overlooking the city. Princess Hisui and the team from Sabertooth were waiting for them in the middle of the room.

Both of the teams happily reunited with each other. Sting and Rogue runs up to Natsu and Gajeel, almost tackling them down to ground, demanding a hug too. Luckily, Happy zoomed up into the air with the two dragonslayers to avoid that. The blue cat then dropped them both to the ground again.

Lector and Frosch came up from behind. Lector tilted his head to the side, "Happy? How come you're the only cat here? Where's Carla and Pantherlily?"

Gajeel groaned and fell to his knees.

"Argh! I just remembered! I left my cat behind! Why!?"

Wendy looked down at her feet, "Well, we kind of left in a hurry. I guess there just wasn't time—"

A voice suddenly cuts her off, "That's no excuse child. You shouldn't be running off like that ever again!"

Another deeper voice also entered, "Yeah. And don't worry about leaving me behind Gajeel. You know that I can take care of myself."

Carla and Pantherlily appeared behind Yukino, looking down at Wendy and Gajeel.

Gajeel runs forward to give Lily a bone-crushing hug. Wendy did the same for Carla, except in a much more gentle way.

Wendy asked, "But how did you guys get here?"

"When we found out you've all left to go on some 'secret important mission,' we went right after you. Eventually, Sabertooth found us and brought us here. They were going to meet you anyways."

Yukino nodded, "Yep. They were really worried about you guys."

Erza walked up to greet Minerva, who was in a much better mood than all of their previous encounters.

"Minerva. I see that you're going to accompany Yukino in her fight against Acnologia. You've really improved. I'm happy we get to be together!" Erza cried.

Minerva smiled, "Me too. Since Tartaros, I want to make up for all my sins. This is a good way to do that. Acnologia. He will perish, along with Zeref who is stupid enough to reside inside of him. We shall annihilate both of them."

Over on the other side of the room, Gray happily talked with Rufus and Orga about their lives since Tartaros.

Rufus shuddered at that, "That is one memory, I wish to forget."

Orga laughed and hits Rufus on the back, "His memory is a blessing and a curse."

Gajeel rushed over to them.

"Hey Orga! I want you to sing your song. Right now!"

Gray and Rufus both groaned.

"Oh no...be ready to cover your hears. For I don't want any memory of this either," Rufus warned.

Gray smiled, "I'll help out. Ice make: earplugs!"

Gray hands a pair to Rufus, who is grateful in receiving them.

"Ah. And this really cools me down."

* * *

 _After the horrible singing event._

Wendy was the only one clapping for Orga, while Gajeel and everybody else fainted from the horrible fake vibratos and earsplitting belting.

Jellal attempted to stand up while holding his head, "Alright...time to get down...to some actual...business..."

Erza rushed over to support him, while everyone else tried to get back onto their feet. Arcadios helped Hisui stand up as she spoke to all of them.

"Yes...alright. Now listen up everyone. Actually. How about if we all go sit down over there?"

Hisui pointed to the large round table on one side of the room with several chairs surrounding it.

Natsu and Gajeel struggled to walk over there.

"I didn't think I'd get motion sick by just the ground vibrating," Natsu mumbled.

"This is pathetic, we're dragonslayers! This isn't even actual transportation!" Gajeel cried.

Sting and Rogue practically crawled over to the table as everyone else slowly recovered their ability to walk properly again.

Once they all settled down at the table, and the five dragonslayers had somewhat recovered from their queasy stomachs—yes, even Wendy wasn't too good back there—Hisui began to speak.

"Ok so, let me get this straight. You guys are planning to defeat Acnologia using Lucy and Yukino as the main vanquishers, correct?"

Everybody nodded.

Hisui continued, "I suppose you all already know of the story behind Anna Heartfilia and the first time Acnologia was put away right? This requires the use of all twelve Zodiac keys, and the thirteenth once, that I believe Yukino has."

Yukino held out the key of the Snake Charmer, Opiachus, "Yes. It's still in my possession."

Hisui nodded and looked over to Lucy.

"And you Lucy? I believe you have the rest of the ten keys right?"

Lucy shook her head weakly, "No...not really...you see, uh. During our battle with the demons of Tartaros, I had—I had to sacrifice one of my...keys."

Everyone looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Hisui asked suspiciously.

Lucy's voice began to shake.

"The Underworld King, he summoned that thing, Alegria, and I was the only who managed to escape. I was in a bit of trouble with a few demons, and ended up summoning three spirits at once. However that wasn't enough...and Aquarius, she—she wanted me to summon the Celestial Spirit King, but to do that...I had to sacrifice her key."

Lucy held back her tears due to that memory, before continuing.

"However...she came back. Her key, was reincarnated and is somewhere here in this world. I just need to find it," Lucy said in a determined voice.

Hisui and Arcadios looked at each other.

Hisui began to speak, "So...that key...it was real. I didn't think it was really Aquarius's key, because you would never let it out of your sight...but after hearing your story. My thoughts are confirmed."

Everybody eyed the princess with suspicion and curiosity.

"What? Do you know where the key is?" Lucy asked.

Hisui nodded, "In the hands of our enemy. A member of the Spriggan 12, I believe his name is August, has the key. One of our spies in Alvarez reported this to us."

Lucy shook her head in disbelief, "No...but why? What good is it for them to have Aquarius's key?"

Arcadios spoke, "We believe it's because of the fact their Emperor, Zeref, has merged himself with Acnologia. They don't want harm to come to him."

"Our spies also told us that the Spriggan 12 already learned the story of Anna Heartfilia from Zeref. Now that Zeref is residing in Acnologia, he will die once the dragon is defeated by you. That is something the Spriggan 12 doesn't want. By keeping Aquarius's key, there is no way to continue this mission," Hisui explained.

Natsu punched the table.

"So. They think they can stop us just like that? Well they'd better be ready for a beatdown, because we're going after that key!" Natsu cried.

Minerva shook her head in pity, "To think that they'd go so far as to keep Acnologia alive, just so their Emperor can continue to live..."

Erza stood up from her seat, "The stupidest mistake they'll ever make. And we'll give them their consequences."

All of the people at the table stood up, ready to leave for their next goal: to retrieve Aquarius's key.

Lucy is especially determined, "I promised Aquarius. I'd be the one to have her key, I'm not about to let some Spriggan rust it!"

Hisui stands and walked up to Lucy.

"Lucy, before we leave, can you come with me to my chambers? I need to tell you something. Oh, and you too Yukino. Please, this is important."

Lucy and Yukino looked a bit confused, but obeyed the princess and followed her to her chambers.

* * *

The rest of the teams are standing around, warming up and stretching for whatever they might face. Natsu is running around the room with Happy flying by him.

"What enemy do think we're going to be meeting over on the other continent?" He asked the blue cat.

"I don't know. But whoever they will be, they're not going to like our previous enemies. They're going to be really hard to beat!" Happy cried.

Natsu just grinned, "That's good, that means I'll won't have to hold back!"

The blue cat paled, "I think you're being over confident."

On the other side of the room, away from a crazy Natsu, was the everybody else. Erza finished up her stretches and sees Jellal standing by the window, looking over the city of Crocus.

She walked up next to him.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked.

"I've been better. But to be honest, I'm actually feeling a bit excited, and nervous at the same time. This isn't something that I've felt in years. What have you guild people done to me?"

Erza smiled, "It's the power of being in a family. No matter how dangerous our work is, how hopeless a situation is. We'll always have each other in the end, we may not succeed in vanquishing our enemies. But at least we'll go down hand in hand."

Jellal slowly reached and grabbed her hand. Erza is shocked at this gesture.

"Hand in hand...you say. I'll remember that. Thank you."

Gray is stretching out his arms while Orga is attempting to do a one arm push up.

Minerva scolded him, "Don't strain yourself. You'll need your energy for the real battle yet to come."

Gray nodded in agreement, "Right. We can't afford for failures or losses here. This is about the fate of all of us, this whole continent. So lets give it our all."

Sting and Rogue sat down, attempting to meditate. Rufus circled around them, giving them tips.

"That's it. This'll clear your mind and relax your thoughts. When in battle, you'll only concentrate on one thing only, and that's to—"

Natsu interrupted him. "Win!"

The fire dragonslayer sped towards the memory-make wizard and stopped right in front of him.

"How's that stop Happy?" He asked the cat soaring above him.

"It was good, but you shouldn't scare people like that, alright?"

Natsu shrugged it off, "Nah, I doubt Rufus was scared of me. Right? Huh?"

Natsu looked in shock that Rufus is suddenly on the other side of the room.

Rufus smirked, "That was only a memory of me. Looks like I'm still the more creative one."

Gray smiled coolly, "'The more creative one' eh? We'll see about that."

Arcadios walked up to all of them, getting their attentions.

"Alright everyone, we're going to leave soon. So it's time to get serious. We're going straight into the Alvarez Empire, so after this point, we're heading into uncharted territory. Anyone who wishes to back out, do it now."

Nobody did.

Arcadios smiled. "I'm so glad that Fiore has such great wizards like you guys. We'll all be in your debt."

Suddenly, Princess Hisui comes back with Lucy and Yukino. The princess has her hair tied up and is dressed in her set of armour from the Grand Magic Games. She stopped in front of them before speaking.

"Ok. We're all ready here. Let me review the plan. We'll attempt to infiltrate the Alvarez Empire by splitting into two teams and hiding in their military boats. Once there, we'll communicate with each other via this lacrima. Do not engage the enemy by yourself. Our goal is to retrieve the key of the Water Bearer, nothing more or less," Hisui explained.

"Or you can engage the enemy here all together as one, little wizards," a voice cried.

Suddenly, the whole room exploded and everyone immediately got down, but they barely escaped the falling debris. After the dust faded away. Lucy looked up.

" _Cough cough_. Ugh, who was that?" She asked.

Everybody looked up to open sky above them through the blown up ceiling and wall. Up above them, were three of the Spriggan 12 members.

The Warrior Maiden, Dimaria. The Winter General, Invel. And the Desert King Azir.

Natsu grinned as he punched his hand and gets ready for the battle.

"Alright, I'm all fired up!"

* * *

 **Woohoo, a real battle! The Spriggans are really pulling at their chances here. (three of them compared to...how many people do we have on our side? Well a lot.) But I like the idea of making all the enemies seem really strong, so I decided to put them against the FT and Saber teams here. The Spriggans were chosen because they were strong (not as strong as the Tartaros demons in my opinion, but strong enough...)**


	6. Separated!

**Disclaimer: Characters and setting belongs to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **This is the first time I've written a battle sequence, I hope it goes well for you guys. If you have any suggestions on how to improve battle scenes, please inform me! I'd be glad to have some constructive criticism.**

 **Anyways, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 **Ch. 6: Separated!**

Natsu gathered energy in his stomach.

"Fire dragon's roar!"

He aimed for Dimaria, who easily reflected the attack back to the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth teams. She jumped down from what's left of the top of the castle and pointed her lance at them.

"We won't allow you to harm Emperor Spriggan. Even if we have to end your lives," she declared.

Gray stood up, followed by Wendy and Erza.

"We'll see about that! Ice-make: cannon!" The ice mage cried.

Wendy followed close behind him.

"Sky dragon's wing attack!"

Both attacks were countered by Ajeel.

"Sandstorm," he commanded.

Sand suddenly blew out from beneath them and swept them across the remains of the palace like rag dolls.

Gajeel held his ground, "A little sand and wind is nothing against iron!"

Rogue appeared from his shadow amongst the rubble.

"Agreed."

They looked at each other and nodded, before going out towards the Desert King.

"Fist of the iron shadow dragon!" They both cried together.

"Hypothermia," Invel simply said.

Suddenly, Gajeel and Rogue both fell to the ground, severely shivering.

"Wha—what's happening? Why is it so cold?" Gajeel asked between chattering teeth.

Invel crossed his arms, "I've lowered your body individual body temperature, not the air around you. It'll be a matter of minutes before you succumb to the cold."

Lucy and Yukino both stood up from the rubble, along with Orga and Jellal.

"Alright these creeps are starting to get on my nerve! Come one Yukino! Lets show them!" Lucy cried.

Yukino nodded. "Open, gate of the balance: Libra!"

The spirit immediately appeared.

Lucy held out her keys, "Open, gate of the lion: Leo! And Star Dress: Saggitarius form!"

The lion spirit appeared before them.

Lucy gives a command to him, "Loke, think you can handle that sand guy?"

Loke runs forward, "I'm on it."

Lucy loads her bow and turned to Dimaria, "Time to take out that creepy Erza wannabe!"

Meanwhile Yukino also commanded her spirit, "Libra, alter the gravity beneath that man with the cold aura. Get him as far away as you can!"

Libra tipped her scales in a downward fashion, "Yes. Gravity changed."

Loke rushes towards Dimaria with his regulus impact, "There's only one Erza here, and there's no room for two!"

Dimaria backflipped away from the spirit before putting up her shield.

She smirked, "Oh? Then I'll just have to take that Erza out myself."

Loke hits the shield, but his power was immediately absorbed into the object, which reflected it right back at him.

Lucy cried out for her spirit before he returned to the celestial world. In her anger, she shot three arrows at a time at Ajeel with lightning fast speed, but he immediately blocked them with his sand wall.

"You got to try harder than that horse dude! River of sand!"

He shot out a beam of sand towards Lucy, who quickly switched to her Star Dress: Aries form. Wielding the lamb spirit's powers, Lucy quickly formed a pink fluffy shield of wool to block the incoming sand.

Meanwhile, Invel was slowly floating away in the air due to Libra's gravity change spell.

"Heh, heh. This'll suit me just fine," the wizard thought.

Invel floated towards the outside wall of the castle's courtyard a few feet away and planted his feet directly upon the side of the wall. He then preceded to freeze the entire building, all the walls, and the ground was now covered with a thin layer of ice.

Invel stuck his feet on the frozen wall and began speeding towards Libra, "I'm bound to the ice, gravity has no effect on me!"

With that, he struck Libra, sending her back to the celestial world with one blow.

Yukino cried, "No, Libra!"

The spirit's gravity change spell has now dissipated, and all the wizards fell back to the ground again.

Erza and Jellal gets up, Sting also stumbled to his feet.

"Time to get serious," Erza said darkly. "Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"

Sting concentrated hard, "Punch of the Light dragon!"

Jellal focused his powers, "Meteor shot!"

Erza shot her omni-directional swords at all three Spriggans, but only Dimaria dodged the attack easily.

"So, you're the mighty Titania. It'll be an honor to spar with you."

The female warrior charged forward with her lance. Erza quickly requiped into her Black Wing Armor to dodge the oncoming attack.

Sting hits Ajeel while he was still recovering from Erza's sword attack. Jellal sped across the ice and severely struck Invel from behind, he then repeated this several more times.

Minerva decided to also get in on the action.

"Territory."

With a flick of her hand, she switched the locations of Ajeel and Invel. The desert king was more vulnerable to physical attacks.

Seeing that they have finally gained the upper hand in the battle, Orga and Rufus also stood up.

Rufus concentrated hard on the still shivering Gajeel and Rogue, "Memory-make: hot springs!"

Almost immediately, a hot steam enveloped the two dragonslayers, increasing their internal body's temperature.

Gajeel gives Rufus a thumbs up, "Thanks man! Alright, lets go!"

Natsu jumped up, his eyes flared with enthusiasm and energy.

"Lets win this thing!"

With that, he launched himself forward towards Invel, letting out a low growl at the same time.

"Fire dragon's brilliant flame!"

Invel quickly froze that attack, and Ajeel, who had escaped from Jellal's constant assaults, immediately made a sand wave.

"Drown! All of you!" The desert king commanded.

Gray stepped forward, "Ice-make: floor!"

All the sand was now frozen solid. Invel smirked.

"That was a bad move kid. Glacier sheets!"

The ice around them started to move and was increasing in size. Orga prepared a huge ball of black lightning.

He directed it to the icy ground, "Heat of the lightning god!"

Plummeting his hands down against the ice, Orga easily exploded every last bit of it.

Wendy used this opening to attack, "Sky dragon's roar!"

The girl's breath attack sent Invel flying towards Dimaria, who was busy duelling with Erza.

Dimaria was taken by surpise, "What? Hey!"

The two crashed into one another and rolled away. Ajeel slowed his comrades down with his sand, and they immediately got back to their feet.

"Open, gate of the great bear: Ursa Major!" Princess Hisui cried.

A great blue bear appeared before the princess, and shot out a fountain of dark black liquid at their enemy, knocking them over once again.

Lucy smiled at the princess, "Nice job, Your Highness."

Hisui sighed in relief before closing the gate, "I can't just stand here and do nothing. I'm a celestial wizard too."

The three Spriggans got back up again, their eyes were filled with rage.

"We'll get you. Dust Devils!" Ajeel cried.

Gigantic sand twisters built up from the ground and attempted to sweep them all away. Yukino summoned Libra again.

"Alter the gravity of the sand particles!" She commanded while covering her mouth.

Libra obeyed immediately, and the sand twisters drifted away from them. Dimaria took out her crossbow and began shooting a mile a minute at each one of the guild wizards.

"Die!" She yelled.

Gray quickly activates his ice shield to protect them, and Rufus and Orga attempted to take out Dimaria together.

She dodged them easily, but Erza then suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and attacked Dimaria, holding two swords in her hand. Erza successfully pushed her back to Invel, who was just about to cast a spell called "the Yeti."

This caused him to accidentally miss his targets, and the spell hits a wall behind the main group instead. A large snow beast appeared but Sting quickly drove it away from his comrades.

Shooting down several beams of light, Sting guided the snow beast towrads their enemy. The snow beast goes running after the bright light, therefore, getting closer and closer to the three Spriggans.

Dimaria impaled it with her lance when the snow beast was within reach, and it dissipated away.

But then, Lucy changed in her Star Dress: Virgo form, and preceded to dig a large hole under their feet, while the Spriggans were too preoccupied with the snow beast.

Their enemies all fell down to the bottom of the ruined palace.

The main group jumped down to the bottom level.

Natsu commanded to all of them, "Ok, all together now! Fire dragon's roar!"

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!" Erza shouted.

"Ice-make: harpoons!" Gray yelled.

"Star Dress: Sagittarius Form!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Sky dragon's roar!" Wendy cried.

"Iron dragon's roar!" Gajeel also cried.

"Light dragon's, shadow dragon's roar!" Sting and Rogue cried in unison.

"Territory, explosion!" Minerva yelled.

"Attack of the lightning god!" Orga shouted.

"Open, gate of the two fish: Pisces!" Yukino shouted.

"Memory-make: finishing blades!" Rufus cried.

"True heavenly body magic, Sema!" Jellal shouted.

"Open, gate of the swan: Cygnus!" Hisui cried.

"Ok, everybody stand back a bit! I'm activating the magical decrease cannon!" Arcadios warned.

All of their attacks combined and locked on the three Spriggans, causing a great explosion which almost blew them all back.

After the wind died down, everyone caught their breath.

"Do you think we got them?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah...I think so," Natsu replied, taking a few steps forward.

Suddenly the rubble on top of the three Spriggans began to move, then Dimaria rose from the rocks, followed by Ajeel and Invel. They looked pretty injured, but they were still standing.

" _Huff puff_. It'll take more than that to defeat us," Dimaria said breathlessly.

Invel struggled to keep on his feet, "We're members of Spriggan 12. We won't go down that easily."

Ajeel nodded in agreement, "Yeah. You guys are pathetic. Get ready for a real fight!"

Suddenly, a loud rumble could be heard across the entire city, causing all of them to fall down and cry out loud. The scent of darkness and dread filled the air.

"What was that?" Yukino cried.

The five dragonslayers sniffed, but immediately recoiled as soon as they realized what that smell belonged. They began shaking in fear as their eyes grew wide.

"No...it can't be. Not this time again," Sting stammered.

Everybody looked up to the sky...

...and wished they never did.

Lucy's eyes went wide, along with everybody else's, "No way...that's that's..."

She didn't have to finish the sentence.

The Black Dragon of the Apocolypse soared in from the distance and flew over the ruins of the castle, blowing the large pieces of rubble around dangerously, as if they were nothing more than just pieces of paper.

"It's Acnologia! Everyone! Get down!" Jellal yelled.

They all srambled through the debris and ruins, attempting to get away from the top of the hill where the palace once stood. Acnologia flew around the city, wrecking everything it sees on the ground and knocking over whole buildings.

The whole city was filled with the screams of innocent civilians. Families looked for each other, children cried out for their parents, and the elderly tried to keep up the rest of the panicked crowd of people. Everyone was either escaping the city by themselves, or finding their loved ones underneath all the destruction.

However, many of the people faced the inevitable death that was brought to them through all the falling debris or with one swipe of the dragon's powerful arm. People where swept off the ground and splattered back down again.

It was an aboslutely frightening scene.

Back on the ruins of the palace, the entire team runs across the ruined outdoor gardens and realized that the three Spriggans had disappeard, probably decided to flee due the appearance of the Dragon King.

Suddenly, Acnologia turned his head around from the city, and looked directly at the group of people running across the debris of bushes and knocked over trees.

Of all the people, only Natsu stopped to look up and meet the dragon's eyes. The fire dragonslayer's eyes weren't filled with fear or anger this time, but were instead full of pain and despair. Natsu couldn't move from his position as Acnologia began closing in onto the palace hill.

Lucy realized that they were missing one member, and turned around to see Natsu staring at Acnologia, who was charging in towards them. She rushed over to him.

"Natsu! We got to get out of here! Come on! Natsu, can you hear me? Natsu!"

Acnologia gets closer and closer. The dragon soared above the entire hill they were standing are upon, preparing for a breath attack.

Natsu merely whispered these words, "Acnologia...it's not going all out this time...I can feel it...is he holding back?"

Lucy pulled Natsu's hand even harder.

"Come on Natsu! Please! I can't lose you now!" She cried.

This caused Natsu to snap back to reality and start running towards everyone else, who is near the bottom of the hill by now, dragging Lucy close behind him.

"Don't worry Lucy, I ain't going anywhere!" He promised.

Happy shouted out to Natsu and Lucy, "Hey guys! Where were you? I thought you were right behind us!"

Natsu grabbed Happy with one arm and continued running downhill.

"Sorry little buddy, I got a little distracted back there. But we'll be fine now," assured.

"I doubt that," answered Gajeel.

Up ahead of them was a dead end, made up of a tall wall of dirt, rock, and other sorts of debris. It would take awhile for them to climb over to the other side of the wall.

Looking behind them, the group could see Acnologia gathering power for its breath attack.

Sting looked exasperated, "What are we going to do? Our exceeds can only carry one person at a time. There's no way we can get everyone over quick enough!"

Arcadios stepped forward, "I can help. I've been saving these for an situation like this and I don't know if these will work, but here."

He held out a jar filled with crystal like beads.

"These pills will allow our bodies to become much stronger than they are before, thus increasing our tolerance and protection level. But it also has a side effect, it makes us much lighter, so we'll end up being blown around like rag dolls in even the slightest breeze. But in a time like this, I'll take that consequence. Here, everyone take one."

Arcadios passed the jar around to everybody until they all owned a single crystal bead. They all swallowed their pill in unison.

Gray nearly chokes on his, "Ugh, I've never been good with these kind of medicine."

Natsu melted his pill a little to soften it before swallowing, "Alright, this better work now, because here it comes!"

Acnologia's roar came hurtling down the hill towards them, destroying everything it touches in its path.

Natsu shuts his eye tightly, waiting for the impact to pass through him.

* * *

 _Inside Natsu's mind..._

 _Natsu could see several objects and structures around him, but for some reason, he can't see his own body._

 _He could only what his eyes can see._

 _"What? What's going here? Where am I?"_

 _He looked at his surrounding. There were lots of trees, and strange looking animals. But the only landmark that he was familiar with, was the giant umbrella-like tree that soared into the sky and covered nearly the whole entire place._

 _"This is...this is Tenrou Island...but this isn't just any place on the island."_

 _He continued to look around and saw that this area had a large open space to walk about in and is surrounded by medium sized trees._

 _"This is the place where I first met you...Zeref. I saved Elfman and Evergreen from you wave of death here," Natsu wondered aloud. "Am I...am I seeing your thoughts? Zeref? Heck, I still can't believe you've merged with Acnologia. How desperate are you?"_

 _Suddenly, another person appears on the island's ground before Natsu's eyes. That person had a little body and was wearing tan-coloured pants and a red long-sleeved shirt._

 _He also had spiky salmon-coloured hair and large brown eyes, filled with curiosity._

 _"Hey...that's supposed to be me. Wow, I've really grown and changed huh? Is that what you thought when you first saw me on the island?" Natsu asked._

 _The scenery changed from the island's ground to a large library full of books. There was a lacrima in the middle of the room, surrounded by piles of notes and papers scattered on the floor._

 _Natsu remembered this room from Zeref's memoirs._

 _"This was your home a long time ago. Well it was your home after you lost mom and dad, and after you accidentally killed everyone at the school. This place...it was where you made me right?"_

 _Natsu looked longingly at the piece of lacrima where his life was given back to him._

 _"You made me into a demon...and made many others in hopes of one of them being able to end you life. And now after all these years, you've finally strapped yourself to a rollercoaster heading straight towards death and broke the controls. But I don't know if I...if we could really kill you, Zeref," Natsu admitted._

 _The image began to fade away and light began to seep in, the light gets brighter and brigher._

* * *

Natsu slowly opened his eyes to see the sun's bright light shining down upon him. He felt extremely hot and moved his arms around to feel the land around him is grainy and soft. Sitting up, Natsu realized that he's half buried in sand and that he's all alone amongst this vast empty desert land.

"Guys! Where are you!?" He cried.

Something stirred undernearth him, Natsu bent down and began digging into the sand.

Happy looked up at him with tired eyes, "Natsu...you're alright."

Natsu picked up his best friend and gave him a big hug.

"Happy! I'm so glad. Do you know where everyone else is?" He asked.

Happy shook his head, "Do you think I would've seen anyone while buried underneath all that sand?"

Natsu stood up, holding Happy close by.

"Oh well. Then it looks like we'll just have to go look for them. Are you with me?"

Happy smiled weakly.

"Aye sir."

* * *

 **Uh oh, everyone is now separated in some kind of a large desert-like area. Curse you Desert King! Lol, it's just me. I'm really liking this story so far. I hope you guys are too.**

 **I'm still rather new to this site, but I think this going pretty well. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Cold hard truth revealed

**Disclaimer: Characters and setting belongs to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee the credit for inspiring me.**

 **This is by far, my favourite chapter. Hope you guys agree too, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Ch. 7: Cold Hard Truth Revealed**

Natsu and Happy continued to wander aimlessly around the desert, searching for their friends.

"Hey! Can anybody hear me!?" Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs.

Happy had gained enough energy to be able to fly again, and soared through the sky, in search of any living beings amongst the desert sand.

He flew down again to rest with Natsu, who was sitting down, sweating from the immense heat of the morning sun.

Natsu wiped his sweat away, "Man, I wonder where everyone else is. At this rate, we'll going to have to contine on without—oh my gosh! Lucy! I was supposed to her protector! And now we're all separated! Lucy!"

Happy shook Natsu out of it, "Natsu! Get a hold of yourself will you? Come on, I'll fly you up, we'll look for all of them together."

With that, Happy lifted Natsu up into the sky and they flew steadily around the desert, Natsu used his super sharp nose to smell for anyone familiar.

" _Sniff sniff_. Wait Happy! Drop us down here!" Natsu suddenly demanded.

Happy did as he was told, and flew down.

As they closed near the ground, they caught sight of a few figures stirring among the sand.

It was Sting, Wendy, and Rufus. Natsu and Happy runs up to them, overjoyed.

"Guys! I thought we'll never see you again!" cried Natsu hugging them.

Happy immediately went over to help Carla out of the sand beside Wendy. Sting rubbed his head, looking around him.

"Where are we?" He asked.

Rufus took off his hat and fanned himself with it.

"Wherever we are, we need to find some water and shelter. And fast," he said.

Natsu nodded and helped them up to their feet.

"The good thing is that we survived Acnologia's breath attack! I mean, how awesome is that?!" Natsu exclaimed.

Wendy looked unsure, but Carla looked extremely serious, "There is no time to be joking around! We need to find the rest of our friends before—"

Suddenly, the sand around them began to rumble and they all jumped back.

A large beige-coloured creature emerged from the sand, looking ready for a fight.

The four wizards and two exceeds prepared themselves in combat positions. Natsu laid in the first attack.

"Fire dragon's iron fist!" He yelled, hitting the creature on its side.

Sting pushed it back with his roar of the light dragon.

Wendy and Rufus worked together. They did this by using her sky dragon's wing attack to blow forward his memory-make: balls of heat.

The creature wasn't finished yet.

It opened its mouth to shoot out a fountain of sand straight towards the group. None of them reacted quickly enough to take cover.

"Ice-make: shield!"

A shield of ice appeared in front of them, protecting them from the sand.

Two more voices joined in.

"Requip: Sea Empress Armor!"

A jet of water hits the creature, damping its skin and sending it sprawling across the sand dunes.

"Open, gate of the fire bird: Phoenix!"

A great bird with fiery wings appeared in the sky, and shone its golden light directly on top of the creature, heating its damp skin. Thus causing parts of it to begin cracking.

Another voice joined the battle, "Shadow dragon's roar!"

The attack knocked away some parts of the creature's cracked armor-like skin.

"And holy black lightning strike!" The final person shouted.

From the sky, emerged a single large black lightning, striking the creature's entire body, knocking it off its feet.

Gray, Erza, Hisui, Rogue, and Orga turned around to face their comrades, smiling.

"Are we late for the party?" Erza asks.

Natsu shook his head, "Not at all. You're just in time."

Gray and Rogue looked around the area.

"It looks like it's just the few of us. Lets keep searching for the rest," Rogue suggested.

They were about to leave when the ground trembled again, this time more violently. Several more of the previous sand creatures appeared, and the wizards all got ready to fight again.

"Heavenly body magic: Grand chariot!" A voice cried.

Seven magic seals appeared in the sky. Each one corresponded to the sand creature below it.

A second later, the magic seals all exploded, effectively knocking the creatures down all at once.

Jellal appeared from behind the dust and sand, walking with Gajeel, Arcadios, Minerva, Lector, and Frosch.

Gray shrugged, looking relieved, "And that's everyone now."

Erza breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing that the rest of their comrades are also safe and sound. Sting and Rogue happily reunite with their exceeds again.

Arcadios rushed over to the princess's side, asking if she's alright. Minerva relaxes and stretches her arms out, while Jellal and Erza exchanged a few words.

During this time, Natsu counted the number of people he sees before him, until realizing that there were some people still missing.

"Wait a minute! Where's Lucy and Yukino?!" He cried.

Immediately following that, everyone's eyes went wide and panic began to spread among them.

"How could we forget about them? They're the most vital part to this whole mission!" Gray yelled.

Erza commanded for everyone to calm down, "I know we're all worried here. But we won't be able to find them if we just run around and panic."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Sting asksed

"First, we'll need to determine where exactly we are on the continent," Erza explained.

Hisui spoke up, "Actually, I believe I know where we are. We are on the Arsen Desert, it's near the western edge of Ishgar actually. I never thought Acnologia's roar would carry us this far out. I've been to this place many times in the past with my father. There's a coastal town not too far from where we are called Kizue. The people there are in good terms with all magic-users, if they do have Lucy and Yukino, they'll be kept safe there."

Natsu looked relieved, "Alright, now that we've got a good idea of where they might be, lets go find them!"

Before they could all begin walking, Hisui stops them. "Wait, there's one more thing. Kizue is a neutral town, but they are in peril of the spreading Alvarez Empire. There's a possibility we're going to meet some foes there, so be ready to fight."

Minerva looked determined, "We'll take anything they'll throw at us."

Gajeel grinned gleefully, "It'll be a piece of cake. I'm craving for another challenge since our last match with the Spriggans."

Hisui smiled.

"Alright, then follow me."

* * *

 _A few hours later, sometime in the afternoon._

Princess Hisui led the team across the last sand dune. They've been traveling across nothing but pure sand for the past couple of hours. But by now, they were nearing their destination. The town of Kizue would be visible soon.

However, once they climbed across the top, the princess cries out loud in horror.

"No...Kizue!"

Before all of their eyes, was the small coastal town of Kizue. Which was now under a heavy attack by the Alvarez army. Arcadios kept Hisui from running down the sand dune towards the town. Natsu however, immediately runs down without thinking.

"Come on guys! They still may be there!" He yelled.

Everyone followed close behind Natsu and into the town. Once they entered, they were greeted with several soldiers from the Alvarez army.

Fortunately, they were easy to defeat.

Gajeel laughed, "Is this the best they got? Come on, give me a real challenge!"

Erza knocked back a few more soldiers that were coming at her.

"We don't have time for a real challenge! We need to focus on our task at hand!" She yelled.

Natsu runs deeper into the town, "Yeah! And it's to save Lucy and Yukino!"

* * *

The team eventually reached the town square, where Princess Hisui rushed to an injured guard.

"Mister! Are you alright?" Hisui kneeled down to help the man, who can barely speak in a coherent voice.

"Princess...you've came...Kizue's time is now over, please, save the people from suffering..." The man's voice dies away, and he becomes lifeless.

Hisui's eyes filled with pain.

"No! Please!" She cried.

Jellal puts his hand on her shoulder, encouraging her to stand up, "Princess please, do you have any idea where Lucy and Yukino may be?"

Hisui nodded and slowly stood up.

"The town has a very large underground safety shelter. They should be there, hopefully."

She led the way through the buildings and streets towards a large building near the edge of the town. Walking up to the large sturdy looking door, Hisui enters the code to unlock it.

"Here we go," she said as the door opened, and they enter the large chambers.

Hisui led them down the metal stairs towards the bottom of the brightly lit shelter.

As they walk down the stairs, Hisui suddenly stopped to ask a few questions.

"When you were told of the story of Anna Heartfilia, what did you feel afterwards?" She asked.

"An obligation and duty to destroy Acnologia," the wizards would answer.

"The work to destroy the great Dragon King who is now merged with the Black Wizard is an extremely life-threatening one, and I speak the truth when I say, I don't believe all of you will make it out alive," Hisui explained to them.

Natsu puts his hands on hips, "Yeah, we already knew that from the beginning, but you're wrong Princess. We're all going to make it out alive, it may be risky, but if we say we're going to make it out, we will. Right guys?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and exchanged looks of determination. Hisui just gazed at the ground. Arcadios stepped forward.

"Come now everyone, we need to hurry up. Time is short," he said.

Arcadios led the rest of the way down, and everyone else followed behind him. The princess didn't follow them though.

Concerned, Natsu stayed behind until Hisui decided to continue on as well. Natsu was confused to the princess's expression and concern.

 _Does she not believe in us?_ He thought as he walked down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs was a large open space where several guards and civilians were. Princess Hisui made her way through to the head guard.

"Excuse me! Please!" She cried.

The head guard turned his head around in surprise, "Your Highness, what are you doing in a place like this? You need to get to safet—"

Hisui interrupted him, "I know, but what I need you to tell me right now, is if you guys found two young women recently. They are both celestial wizards, one has blonde hair tied in two pigtails, and the other has short white hair. Have you seen either one?"

The head guard nodded vigorously, "Yes, I believe my men said something about escorting a celestial wizard here to safety from the desert. I'll take you to her, she's in the other chamber."

The guard led the whole group through the crowd of civilians, and towards a hallway that led to another shelter for important people. The door opened and they all rushed inside. Natsu and the others all shout the names of their celestial wizards.

"Lucy! Yukino!" They all yelled.

Suddenly, a female figure comes running up to them.

It was Yukino.

"Guys! I'm so happy you're all safe!" She cried.

Sting and Rogue squeezed her into a hug.

"Yukino! You're alright!" Sting cried in a relieved tone.

Yukino nodded, letting go of two of her guildmates.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured.

Natsu looked around the room for the blonde haired celestial wizard. He saw a few other wizards, but not the one that he's looking for.

He turned to Yukino.

"Hey, do you know where Lucy is?" He asked.

Yukino quivered and shook her head.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her, but I did hear the guards who brought me here say something about her. They said that they found a blonde hair wizard who was under some trouble with a few members of the Spriggan 12. They couldn't resuce her. I think—I think that she's been taken to the Alvarez Empire!" Yukino said in a trembling voice.

Wendy looked determined, "Then we'll after her!"

Natsu punched the wall nearby, denting the metal.

"Damnit! Some protector I am! Always letting the enemy getting to her!" He yelled in annoyance.

Gajeel scolded him, "Calm down salamander! It's not only you! We've all swore to protect her, so we're all to blame. Don't worry, we're going to get her back."

Natsu nodded and puts on a serious expression.

"Alright, lets go save Lucy," he commanded.

Princess Hisui shook her head and looked to Arcadios.

"No, I can't let this happen. I'm ending this fool's mission, right here, right now," she quietly said to him.

Arcadios lets out a cry of concern.

"Princess, I can't let you do that. We still don't know if there's anything we could do at the end," he insisted, but Hisui just shook her head.

"I've already made up my mind."

The princess walked up to Yukino and breaths a deep breath before speaking.

"Yukino, please. Give me your keys. I beg of you to hand over your responsibility to me."

Everyone looked at Hisui incredulously and in confusion.

"What!?" They all exclaimed.

Yukino gasped and shook her head, "I cannot princess, I'm sorry, but this is my duty, my responsibility! I already said so from the beginning and I'm not backing out now!"

Hisui wouldn't give in, "Yukino! Don't you see? I'm doing this for yours and Lucy's sake!"

"I know that, but I won't approve of it! You're not getting a hold of my keys!" Yukino cried.

Before Hisui could argue back, Jellal came between her and Yukino. He gazed intently at the princess of Fiore.

"Princess, may I ask what's going on here?" He demanded.

Sting and Rogue stood close by Yukino, suspicious of Hisui's actions. Arcadios stood by Hisui. All of the wizards eyed her confusingly.

Erza asked her, "Why? Why would you ask for Yukino's keys Your Highness?"

Gray nodded, "Yeah, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Natsu stepped forward towards Hisui.

"I think I know," he answered.

Hisui looked up to Natsu, her eyes filled with pain and sadness.

"Please, I just—"

Natsu cuts her off, "You just don't have enough faith in us that we'll be able to succeed in vanquishing Acnologia! You're afraid we might lose our lives in the process that you've decided to put your own life on the margin to spare us! Right?"

Nobody said a word, they just looked from Natsu to Hisui. Natsu continued to speak as Hisui remained silent.

"I know you mean well princess, but we will make it through alive. That's why we're here, to protect Lucy and Yukino from all harm that awaits them. You have no right to snatch what they wish to do!" He cried.

Hisui snapped at the fire dragonslayer. She is no longer sad nor in pain, but rather, burning up with anger!

"I have to stop them from defeating Acnologia! Once Lucy gets the last key, she and Yukino may be able to defeat Acnologia, but...well there's no doubt about it! Acnologia will be defeated once all twelve Zodiacs are summoned along with thirteenth one in their eclipse forms. But...but...Lucy and Yukino will die! You know!?" Hisui exclaimed.

A deathly silence fell across the entire chamber. Nobody spoke a word. Natsu didn't even blink, he just stared at the princess, waiting for her to speak again.

Hisui continued in a shaky voice, her eyes welled up with tears.

"Don't you guys know? The whole story of Anna Heartfilia? Summoning all thirteen spirits in their eclipse forms will put a stop to Acnologia, but once they've all been summoned, the thirteenth spirit will put Acnologia in a stasis and then...and then...it will kill the celestial wizard too!

During the battle, Acnologia's dark influence will affect the spirits, which will cause them to lose control, and attack anything they see. But the thirteenth spirit will be affected the most, since it's not a true Zodiac! There! Now you know?!"

Hisui collapsed to her knees in agony as Arcadios supported her. Everyone else was trying to consume that piece of information the princess had just revealed.

Natsu especially. His serious expression left his face, replaced by a broken look.

"Did...Lucy already know about this?"

He remembered the day when Hisui asked for her and Yukino to go with her to her private chambers, because the princess wanted to speak to them privately. Was it matters relating to this?

Natsu knelt in front of Hisui, who was now crying over her confession and being comforted by Arcadios.

"Why? Why didn't you tell us earlier? Were you trying to hide it from us?" He asked.

Arcadios shook his head, defending Hisui, "We weren't trying hide it. But do you think it would've been easy for any of us to say? The princess was put in a very difficult position!"

One of the wizards in the room, a middle-aged man stood up and walked towards them.

"I can vouch for that. The princess is very close to us people of Kizue, and we already know of the story of Acnologia's first defeat. The princess isn't trying rob the celestial wizards of their responsibility, but rather to protect from an inevitable death," the man defended.

Everyone looked to each other, not knowing what to say. Natsu lets out a loud shout and started pounding against the ground, clearly upset.

Orga mumbled, "This can't be real..."

"All this time...we were so oblivious..." Minerva said in a tone of disbelief.

Arcadios sighed, "The princess told Yukino and Lucy the fact that they would end up sacrificing their lives in the end, they know that by now, and they still decide to continue on with it."

Hisui shook her head, holding it at the same time. A steady flow of tears streaming down her cheeks.

"But Arcadios, don't you see?! They shouldn't throw away their lives so easily! Just so the rest of us can be happy...if someone is to be sacrificed, it should be me! I'm the princess of Fiore, it's my duty to protect my people!" Hisui cried.

Gray held his head as he fell down to his knees.

"I still can't believe this!" He yelled.

Sting and Rogue were standing still, frozen in thought.

"So in a way...we were pushing them towards their demise..." Rogue said.

Jellal hits the metal wall of the chamber in frustration, "Argh! Why didn't I find out sooner? I was the one who told them the story in the first place! I shouldn't known about what happened in the end!"

Erza held Wendy close as the little girl wept.

"I didn't know that Lucy and Yukino would die!" She cried. Erza said nothing as she let her own tears fall.

Gajeel held his forehead, frustrated and angry. "

And we called ourselves their 'protectors,' when we were more like their executioners," he muttered.

"What were they thinking of us after knowing that fact?" Rufus asked.

Natsu shouted towards the ceiling before clutching his stomach and falling to his knees, wailing heavily.

Yukino stepped forward.

"But it was my and Lucy's choice. All of us, the people of Ishgar, even the people of the western continent, fear Acnologia. Just imagine a world without that evil entity, isn't it something worth sacrificing for? To me, it is, and I won't hesitate to do it!" She cried.

By now, Natsu had gotten up from the floor and ran past everyone towards the far wall of the room.

He repeatedly punched against the cold hard metal.

"But all this time...I've told Lucy that 'we're going to be alright!' That 'we're going to make it through all together!' And even after she found out about the truth...she still doesn't react to when I say those things...she'd just look at me with those same determined eyes..."

Natsu stopped punching the wall and leaned his arms against it, lost in thought.

* * *

 _Flashbacks..._

 _Natsu and Happy sat down on the ground after being beaten by a few lovesick girls under the charm spell of the fake salamander. They came all the way to the port town of Hargeon in pursuit of Igneel and end up with a salamander wannabe._

 _"What is he?" He asked._

 _"He is really disgusting." A voice said from behind._

 _It was Lucy._

 _"Thanks for earlier." She said with a bright smile._

* * *

 _Natsu crashed in on the ship where the fake salamander took Lucy and a bunch of other girls to. After a fiery beatdown, he destroyed the whole ship, and the port with it._

 _The military suddenly showed up._

 _"Wh—what's all this ruckus!?" The captain cried._

 _Natsu suddenly pulled Lucy away and they began running._

 _"Crap! Let's run," he yelled._

 _"Why me!?" Lucy cried._

 _He looked at her, "You wan to join Fairy Tail, right?"_

 _Lucy's eye's widened in astonishment._

 _"Then come with me!" He grinned at her._

 _Lucy smiled as she began running too, "Ok!"_

* * *

 _Inside Lucy's apartment. Natsu stood up from talking with Plue._

 _"Ok! I've made up my mind! I agree with Plue's idea!"_

 _He turned to Lucy, smiling brightly._

 _"Let's make a team!" He said as Lucy returned his smile, nodding in agreement._

* * *

 _As soon as Angel was defeated, Lucy went over to the raft._

 _She stretched out her hand to a motionsick Natsu, stuck on a raft. "_

 _Stretch out your hand! Natsu!" She yelled._

 _He only responded the through moans and groans of a queasy stomach. As soon as she reached him, they both got swept away on the river's current._

* * *

 _Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla looked up in fear. They are under disguises in fear of the people of Edolas._

 _"W...what's going on..." Natsu stuttered._

 _"Everyone's gone made?" Happy asked._

 _A female figure dressed in black knelt_ _down before them._

 _"Hey. Who the heck are you guys?" She asked._

 _Taking a second look at the person, they realize she looked exactly like Lucy._

 _"What the hell are you doing hiding in here?" She demanded._

* * *

 _Lucy was knocked to the ground by Kain Hikaru. Natsu yelled for her to run._

 _"I won't..." She said, standing up only to be knocked down again by the large sumo wrestler man._

 _"I don't want...to run away by myself...because not matter what...I'd rather be together with everyone..."_

 _She barely managed to say through her heavy injuries, but she still said it with a smile on her face._

* * *

 _Future Rogue talked about the future he came from where the dragons ruled the world._

 _"As as long as they're alive, the ones destined to close the gates will do so without fail..." he began._

 _Natsu looked bored, "You're losing me...who's this dude you're talking about anyways?"_

 _Rogue's eyes flared murderously._

 _"It's you. Lucy Heartfilia!"_

 _He threw a huge lethal looking shadow blade towards her. Her future self jumps in front to take the mortal hit. Natsu's eyes widen in shock and pain._

* * *

 _Natsu looked up to the sky. The redness of the moon begins to fade away. They did it, they vanquished the dragons and destroyed the eclispe gate. All of the chaos and havoc is finally over._

 _Lucy, not being to hold herself back, runs forward and hugs Natsu from behind._

 _"What's wrong Lucy?" He asked gently._

 _"Nothing. Just a feeling..." she replied._

 _After a brief moment, Lucy spoke again, "Thank you."_

* * *

 _They were standing on the hill of the ruined palace. Natsu stared at Acnologia as the dragon flew towards them. Lucy desperately tugged Natsu to get him to run._

 _"Come on Natsu! Please! I can't lose you now!" She cried._

* * *

"I can't lose you now either," Natsu thought in his mind. He stood up from leaning against the metal wall and turned around, looking determined.

"I'm not letting her go. I'll find Lucy!"

* * *

 **Well there we have it: the cold hard truth revealed! Will our dear celestial mages continue on to fight? Or will they succumb to the convincing of their friends and quit their journey?**


	8. Rescuing Lucy

**Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **Onto the chapter. (Keeping this short)**

* * *

 **Ch. 8: Rescuing Lucy**

Natsu turned to the whole company, his eyes are literally on fire as he walked towards them.

"This is no time to be crying about! Lucy is in trouble and we need to get out of here now! Who's with me?" He cried.

Everyone put the same look of determination on and stood up. Princess Hisui stopped crying by now and also stood up, looking much more together now.

"Everyone, I'm sorry for my rash actions back there. If you don't want me to continue along, then I won't," she said.

"Wait," Minerva said.

She walked up to the princess, "Your actions may have been rash, but your intentions were good. I could see that you truly do care for you people and us."

Natsu walked up to Hisui as well, "Yeah. And if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have known this important information, not to mention it was you who took us to this town, and to where Yukino is. Whether or not if you're coming along, is your choice."

Hisui's eyes shone with happiness and she put the same look of determination on her face.

"Alright, lets go!"

* * *

They all left the the chamber through another exit that led them directly to the surface of the town, near the outskirts of it. Arcadios and Hisui led the wizards around the town's twisting streets, doing their best to avoid any confrontation until they've reached the port.

"From there, we could try to sneak onto one of the Alvarez's military ships, or attempt to takeover one of their ships completely, though I'd save that for last resort," Hisui explained as they hid behind a large building, separating them from the boats.

Natsu stared intently at their targeted ship, "Alright, lets go guys."

He stealthily crept closer towards the port, everyone else taking their time in following behind him. Gray peaked out from behind several wooden crates.

"Hmm. I can still see some people on that ship. Infiltrating will be hard if we all barge in," he said.

Erza nodded in agreement from between a thin crevice in the walls.

"Then that means we'll send about four of our bests out of all of us out there," she said.

Jellal looked at the ship with determined eyes from his hiding place inside an empty selling stand.

"I'm going in. I owe Lucy for planting that idea into her head," he said.

Erza gave him a sympathetic look.

"Natsu? You want in?" She asked.

Natsu surprisingly shook his head.

"Nah. I'd rather stay. I'm more for fighting, and we need to be quiet now. If we want to get to Alvarez in time," he replied.

"Well then, I'll go in," Gray volunteered.

Rufus and Rogue both volunteered to enter as well. After that, all four wizards slowly crept towards the ship.

Gray stood up and quietly tackled one soldier to the ground, while Rogue entered his shadow mode to quickly move to the interior of the ship and took out whoever's waiting inside.

Rufus and Jellal both quietly entered and resorted to using surprise tactics in taking down wandering soldiers, unaware of the nearby wizards.

Eventually, Rogue gets to the bridge of the ship and took down the soldier controlling the whole unit. Rogue walked up to window overlooking the port town and gives a thumbs up to the rest of them outside.

They all respond with a thumbs up and walked out of their hiding spots.

Suddenly, an explosion happened on one of the ships, blowing it up.

One by one, the ships across the port began to blow up until its gets near the ship where Rogue, Jellal, Gray, and Rufus are on.

Natsu yelled at them, "Guys! Get out of there!"

The four wizards jumped out in time before their ship exploded as well. Jellal got up from landing on the ground.

"Wh—what happened?" He asked.

Before anyone could respond. A red magic blade shot out dangerously close to Rogue, who managed to vanish into his shadow just in time.

"Who the heck was that?" Orga shouted.

Their answer appeared before them, it was a member of the Spriggan 12, Jacob Lessier, his specialty is assassination magic.

"Well hello there fellow wizards. I see that you have one of the celestial wizards that'll destroy our Emperor," he said, looking at Yukino.

They all surrounded her and Natsu and Erza glared at the man before them.

"You're not getting your hands on her!" Erza said.

"Yeah! Now tell us where Lucy is!" Natsu yelled.

Jacob just tilts his head, looking a bit bored.

"Lucy? Oh, you mean the other celestial wizard. Don't worry, she's being treated well in Alvarez. That is before her public execution," he answered.

This caused everyone's jaw to drop and Natsu glared deeply at the Spriggan.

"Why you..." He began.

Erza stopped him from rushing forward. Jacob shook his head in disapproval.

"Now, now, that wizard was going on a mission to destroy Acnologia, which will also end the life of our Emperor. The people of Alvarez aren't too fond of her, and would like to see nothing less than a public execution. Think of this as doing a favor. If she continued on this mission, she's going to end up dying anyways," Jacob reasoned.

Hisui found her voice again and shouted, "That's not going to happen! We'll defeat Acnologia and Zeref, and we'll do it without losing any of our celestial wizards in the process!"

Jacob began shining in a bright red aura.

"Ah, princess. I should've expected something like that from you. But there is no other way of doing that. We're speeding up the inevitable, and giving Miss Lucy Heartfilia the gift of eternal rest. Now if you don't mind, I really don't have time to be messing you folks. The people of Alvarez needs me, so have fun with the rest of the army," Jacob replied before walking away.

Almost immediately, soldiers jumped out from the water where the boats all blew up. More came running down from the buildings in town. Everyone prepared to fight back as their enemies drew out their weapons.

Suddenly, a cannon shot out and took out nearly half of the soldiers. Natsu looked up to sky.

"Hey, isn't that Grimoire Heart's airship?" He asked.

Wendy put a hand to her mouth in shock.

"No way, I thought it was destroyed after the battle on Tenrou Island!" She cried.

Another blast emitted from the ship, taking out more soldiers that suddenly emerged from the water. A voice spoke in all of the wizards' head.

"Hey, can you read me guys? It's us," the voice said.

Gray was shocked, "Warren, is that you?"

Warren replied loud and clear to all of them.

"Oh my beloved Gray! I knew that we were going to be reunited again!" Juvia exclaimed.

Warren pushed her off, "Yep. We're all here. Master wants to have a word with you guys."

Natsu grinned and pumped a fist in the air.

"Alright, now we can get to Alvarez in not time at all!" He exclaimed.

"NATSU!" Master Makarov yelled.

"Just what were all of you children thinking when you decided to leave suddenly without telling us!?" Master scolded.

Erza joined in on the conversation.

"Please forgive us, Master, that was a mistake done on our part. We're glad that you are all here now," she apologized.

Jellal shook his head, "No, I'm the one to blame, Makarov. I took your children away and deliberately forced them onto a journey they didn't truly understand. I put their lives in danger countless times, when I myself didn't have the power to save all of them."

A cheeful voice spoke, "Hmph. You're lucky that I implanted a tracking lacrima on you Jellal."

Jellal's jaw dropped, "Meredy?"

The pink haired girl suddenly jumped off the airship via a rope and lands down before them.

"Luckily, Ultear and I managed to scavenge for our lost airship years ago. We just never had any use for it. Until now that is. Oh, and don't worry about explaining to Fairy Tail about the whole on defeating Acnologia. I already told them everything they need to know," she said cheekily.

Rogue looked at her seriously.

"Including the part about what happens when Acnologia is defeated?" He asked.

Meredy looked at him, shocked, then slowly nodded her head.

"Yeah...I kind of looked further into the story of Anna while you were gone, Jellal. I found out what happened to her at the end of the battle with Acnologia. Fairy Tail...they're letting Lucy and Yukino choose as what they desire to do. They truly are an amazing guild," she said.

Gajeel stepped forward, "Alright, cut the small talk. Lets get on with it!"

He grabbed onto the rope that leads them up to the airship.

"Yeah, lets go!" Erza said as she began climbing as well.

"Right behind you!" Wendy cried.

"Wait! Wendy, you need to put your Troia spell on me!" Natsu shouted.

One by one, all the wizards climbed up to the airship. As soon as they got to the top, the airship takes off in the direction of the Alvarez Empire.

On board the ship, Wendy quickly applied the Troia spell on all of the dragonslayers, including her before she got too motion sick.

"There, that should do. But after this, I can't do it again after awhile. If I use this spell too often, then its effects will wear off on you guys," she said.

Natsu stood up and walked around the deck of the outside of airship.

"That's fine Wendy. What I need to do now, is to get to the bridge of the ship."

Natsu left the deck and walked to the interior.

Wendy looked around her to see all of the members of Fairy Tail together on board. It felt good to be in this atmosphere of home again, even though they're not together at the guild hall. Even little Asuka has decided to tag along!

Wendy smiled as she gazed out in the distance. Carla comes up beside her.

"Wendy, we should really get inside. The Master would probably like to have a word with all of you runaway brats," the white exceed replied.

Wendy nodded and followed Carla to the inside of the ship.

* * *

Elfman and Cana was chatting with a few of the Sabertooth team. Most of Fairy Tail was shocked to see the redemption of the members since the Grand Magic Games, but they nobody was holding any grudges so far. Cana leaned up to Yukino.

"So Yukino, you and Lucy are going to the vanquishers of Acnologia and Zeref eh? Sounds pretty poetic if you think about it, there's going to be books and statues made in your honour," Cana said.

Yukino smiled softly.

"Yeah. But I just want to bring peace to Ishgar," she admitted.

"And we're going to make sure she'll be successful in it," Sting said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

All the Sabertooth members nodded. Elfman shouted, "Now that's a real man!"

Cana just rolled her eyes.

Laxus suddenly appeared from behind them.

"Ahem. If you guys are just about done talking, the old man wants Sabertooth inside the control room," he told to them.

The members of Sabertooth followed Laxus inside the ship. At the control room, which is the bridge of the ship, Master Makarov is waiting there with the Fairy Tail team, Princess Hisui, and Arcadios. He turned around to see the Sabertooth team enter the room.

"Ah, good. You're all here," he said as he turned on a large circular lacrima that shows them where they are currently located, and where the Alvarez Empire is.

Natsu runs forward.

"Master! Do you know exactly where Lucy is?" He asked.

Makarov turned around with angry eyes, causing everyone to fall back in fear.

"Why do you want to know? When you find her, what are you going to do?" He asked them.

Natsu paused for a moment before answering.

"I...none of us, knew what would've happened if Lucy and Yukino did defeat Acnologia. I told her all those things...that we're going to all make it through, without knowing. We need to save her!" Natsu yelled.

Makarov looked down to the ground and sighed.

"If only that's possible. Sometimes, decisions must be made Natsu. And this is a decision Lucy and Yukino must make on their own. They are going to continue down their choices, it's time for you to choose as well. Well Natsu? You can't stop her from wanting to defeat Acnologia, so what are you going to do?" The master asked.

The fire dragonslayer looked at Makarov in the eyes.

"If I can't stop her, then the least I could do is help her continue successfully. And to do that, we need to save her. From the Alvarez Empire," Natsu explained.

Everyone walked up behind Natsu, and looked at Makarov with determined eyes. Makarov looked at them proudly, then turned around to the lacrima on display.

"We've found Lucy's location, to answer your first question Natsu. Here, let me project it to you guys."

The lacrima's map disappeared and was replaced by an image of a battered and beaten Lucy. Her face showed clear signs that she was in pain, and her clothes are badly tattered. Behind her are a few guards, who were pushing her down a street filled with people who were glaring at the young celestial wizard.

Then the image disappeared.

Yukino looked concerned at the state Lucy was shown in.

"Oh no! I had no idea she was being treated this badly!" She cried.

Jellal shared same look.

"We should've left faster," he said.

"How dare they...how dare they treat her like that!" Natsu shouted.

Erza rushed to Makarov's side.

"Master! One of the Spriggans, Jacob Lessier said that Lucy is going to be executed! We need to hurry!" She cried.

This caused Makarov's eyes to widen.

"Why didn't you say that earlier? Lucy is currently on the top of the temple of the Spriggans. More specifically, the grand sky alter of the temple. We should be able to get there in a few minutes if we double our speed," Makarov explained.

He runs over to the microphone system.

"Attention wizards down in the engine room. Increase the speed to double as it is currently! And hurry it up!" He commanded.

Almost immediately, the airship began moving a lot faster than it was before. Natsu looked out the window of the room.

"We're on our way Lucy...hang on," he thought.

* * *

At the top of the Temple of the Spriggan, Lucy is being escorted by several guards across the long aisle that led to the main altar of where they planned to execute her.

Despite her countless bruises and cuts, Lucy kept a straight face and walked forward on her own feet. Around the side of the aisle, many people gathered to watch the execution of the young celestial wizard. A few gave her glares and some even mumbled curses, but Lucy ignored them.

Eventually, the guards stopped escorting her once they've reached the steps. Two elite guards came down and pushed her up the few steps to the main altar.

Members of the Spriggan 12 gathered around, and Jacob Lessier activates a lever that opens up nasty looking piece of equipment with four chains and pieces of dark lacrima.

Suddenly, the sound of something loud is heard and the wind around the area began to increase. Sensing something is about to come, Dimaria sent out a couple of soldiers down the aisle to investigate.

The Fairy Tail's airship flew overhead, shooting out several wires that attaches themselves to the floor of the aisle. The soldiers began shooting at the ship, which proved to be fruitless, as it's under a shield spell created by Freed and Levy.

On the wires, the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth team, Princess Hisui, and Arcadios are individually sliding down the metal ropes and towards the aisle. Lucy gasped and lit up from the sight of her friends, but was immediately pulled back by the Spriggans as they sent more soldiers down to fight the wizards.

Natsu, Gray, and Wendy easily took care of those nuisances as Jellal and Erza took care of all the soldiers with long-ranged weapons. The rest of them kept any soldiers attempting to get in on the fight at bay.

Eventually, they reached the steps to the altar. Most of the Spriggans left by now to get reinforcements, leaving only Jacob, Invel, and August behind.

Lucy has had enough of seeing her friends get hurt and pulled out her whip, easily taking down the guards on either side of her.

Natsu called out to her, "Lucy! Get over here!"

Just as August casted a spell that knocked them all to their feet.

This gave the soldiers an opening to surround them and aim their anti-magic guns at the wizards, who slowly got up to their feet again.

Lucy immediately took out her keys and Jacob caught sight of them.

He looks at her oddly, "Do you really believe you can save your friends all by yourself? You do realize that if you continue this foolish journey with them, you'll eventually meet your demise. But if you wish to truly live, just give us your keys, end this journey. And we'll spare all of you."

Jacbo held out his hand, waiting for Lucy to hand over her keys.

That did not affect Lucy though, she continued to take out three of her keys, preparing to summon her spirits.

August stepped forward towards the celestial spirit mage.

"Stop. Lucy Heartfilia, you do not value the lives of your friends? Think about how many times they've saved you over and over again."

He gestured to the soldiers, who were pointing the anti-magic guns closer to their heads. Lucy began to hesitate. August sees the reaction he expected from her and continued.

"You see. Their destiny lies in your hands. Now either end your journey, or let them perish. The choice is completely yours to choose," August replied.

Lucy looked at her friends who looked at her with eyes that practically screamed, "don't do it!"

However, she refused to listen to their pleads and reluctantly threw all eleven of her keys down the steps towards August, who gestured to Jacob to pick them up.

Lucy squeezed her hands into fists and looked to the ground, her face dark. August nodded at her as Jacob held the keys tightly.

"Ah. A wise choice young one. However. It was you and your comrades who intentionally brought harm to our Empire and the people in it. You've also made the decision to terminate Acnologia, while knowing that our Emperor will perish in the end. That is something I cannot let go unpunished. So. Kill them," August ordered.

Their jaws all dropped in shock and Lucy stifled a gasp. Jacob shrugged, as if he expected this to have happened all along.

The soldiers unclipped the safety off of their guns and took aim at the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth teams.

Lucy cried out before they could shoot, "Stop! I'll...I'll proceed with the execution...my life in exchange for my friends."

Lucy slowly backed up to the edge of the altar, where there's nothing but air beyond the edge and nearly half a kilometer distance between the ground and where she stands.

Jacob looked at her incredulously.

"This is ridiculous. Even if you decide to fall, your friends will still die."

Lucy shook her head and glared at him, "No. Because I'll save them. Believe in me."

Natsu gazed at her with great concern.

She smiled at him as if to say, "everything's going to be alright."

Lucy pulled her arms into her chest as she leaned back and falls over the edge.

Natsu shouted out after her, "Lucy!"

In midair, Lucy opened her eyes and concentrated hard. Suddenly, a huge glow is emitted from the keys Jacob is holding. The keys tore themselves away from the Spriggan and released a golden energy that pushed back all of the soldiers.

Lucy shouted out at the top of her lungs, "Open, gate of the lamb: Aries!"

The spirit's key glowed back at the top of the altar, and the spirit herself appeared in midair, immediately casting a cloud of pink wool to break her master's fall.

"Sorry, Lucy. Did I come on time?" Aries asked.

Lucy nodded tearfully at her spirit, "Your timing was absolutely perfect."

Then she concentrated even harder to call out two more of her spirits at the top of the altar.

"Open, gate of the golden gull: Taurus! And open, gate, of the lion: Leo!"

The respective spirits both appeared beside Lucy and she immediately commanded them to get up to the top to help her friends.

Taurus knocked back a couple more soldiers who attempted to shoot at the wizards.

The wizards fought their way through even more soldiers to get down from the top of the temple. Leo helped out by clearing a path that led them directly to the door that would take them down to the ground level.

Before he left, he picked up Lucy's keys from the ground where Jacob dropped them, and handed them rightfully back to her.

Back on the top of the temple, Natsu and everyone else rushed to the door. He was about to open it when Gray stopped him.

"Wait! Do we even know Lucy is right now? We can't just run around blindly down there while looking for her!" He yelled.

"Well, we don't know! So we might as well fight our way through to her! Come on!" Natsu shouted back.

Yukino agreed with Gray though, "I agree with Gray. We need to have a good idea of where Lucy may be at least."

Jellal thought deeply.

"This is the Alvarez Empire, Lucy does not know where anywhere is, and neither do we. This is enemy territory, but we were planning to get here since we were in Crocus."

"What is related to Lucy and to this place? Think guys," Sting encouraged.

Suddenly Hisui gasped, "The key of the water bearer! That's why we were planning to come here in the first place!"

Natsu understood the situation now and had a good idea where Lucy may be.

"That August guy! We need to find him! He's the one with the key, so that means Lucy will be after him too!"

* * *

 **Lucy has been found. Now, all that's left is get Aquarius's key back and resume the journey...piece of cake...**


	9. Natsu and Lucy

**Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **(No description this time)**

* * *

 **Ch. 9: Natsu and Lucy**

The entire team runs down the stairs to the ground level of the incredibly large temple.

"This building is like a maze! Where do you think we'll be able to find Lucy and August?" Gajeel asked while scanning around the multiple doors and corridors of the area they're in.

Erza stepped forward, "Then we'll split up into teams of two people. We'll be able to cover more ground this way."

Arcadios handed everyone a small communication device.

"This will keep us in touch if we ever run into trouble or found our targets," he explained. "As for teams, I shall be by the princess's side at all times. So I'm staying with her."

He turning to Hisui who smiled in gratitude.

Natsu hanged on to Happy.

"Well I'm going with my little buddy!" He said before rushing into one of the corridors with the blue exceed flying close behind him.

Gajeel also runs into one of the corridors with Pantherlily following him, "I'm going with my cat too! See you all later!"

Gray decided to pair up with Wendy and Carla.

"Hope you don't mind a team of three," he said as he runs down the corridor.

"No. I don't mind at all," Wendy replied.

Eventually all the teams were made and left the area. Sting and Rogue who let their exceeds tag along with them, Yukino and Minerva, Rufus and Orga, and Hisui and Arcadios. That left Erza standing with an expectant Jellal

She crossed her arms and smiled.

"Well, there's only one corridor left. Shall we?" She asked, extending a hand.

He walked up to her and took it, returning the smile.

"Lets go."

And they ran down the last corridor together.

* * *

Natsu and Happy were walking down the long corridor, admiring the fancy stones engraved in a swirly design. There were lights coming from the floor instead of the ceiling, and the corridor so far, has no fork paths, or has splitted up yet.

Happy looked around carefully, searching for anything that stood out.

"Hey, Natsu. Don't you think that we should be nearing the end of this long hall by now? It seems like we're walking forever?"

"Yeah, it does. How long has it been? Wait a minute!" Natsu yelled.

Happy was taken by surprise and nearly fellout of the air.

"Ah! What is it?" He asked.

Natsu began darting around the hallway and running back to where they came from, only to end up in the same area where they started.

"Happy! We've barely covered any distance at all!"

Happy began flying towards Natsu and that's when Jellal and Erza suddenly appeared from their corridor. Natsu breathed a sigh relief upon seeing them.

"Hey guys. Do you realize there's something really weird with these halls?" He asked.

Jellal nodded, "It's an illusion. I remember seeing something like this when fighting the Oracion Seis. Happy! Try flying down the corridor!"

He commanded the exceed. Happy obeyed and flew down, but to everyone who was watching him, he looked like he was flying in circles.

Erza was shocked to see this.

"So this is really an illusion?" She exclaimed.

"How do we get out of it?" Natsu asked.

Jellal walked down the corridor Happy is in, and knelt down to examine the ground.

Eventually, he found what he is searching for: a mysterious-looking silver rope is put along the edge of the ground of the corridor. He reached forward to feel it.

"It's a physical thing, I can touch it," he said as he got back up and walked towards the others, pulling Happy with him.

"I got it. Just look for something that doesn't belong in the illusion, it's something you can physically touch, not just see. Keep your eyes on that thing and the illusion would break. Then you'll be able to get somewhere," Jellal explained.

Natsu looked confused.

"Uh...repeat that please?" He asked.

Erza sighed and explained to him what to do, "Just look for the silver rope along the bottom of the path and follow it to the end. You do that, I'll inform everyone else the same thing."

Erza activated her communication device and explained the same process to everyone. Natsu and Happy runs back into their corridor. This time, they followed the silver rope along the edge of ground.

In the other corridors, the rest of the teams also found the rope and were doing the exact same thing. Eventually, they all met at the same area at the end of the corridors.

They all looked to each other in confusion.

"What? Does this mean we're all back at the beginning again?" Jellal asked.

"Ha ha! Nope! Look over there!" Natsu happily yelled pointing at the large decorated door at the top of some steps.

He began running up and got to work at trying to pull the door open.

Rogue called out to him, "Wait! We don't know what lies behind that door! At least think this through!"

Hisui puts a hand in front of him, "Don't worry, we've already faced so many enemies. This isn't something we should worry about. We should worry whether or not we can open that door."

She ran up to Natsu and began helping him pull up the door. Arcadios and Gajeel joins in, along with Pantherlily in his battle form.

Soon, everyone began contributing to this, but after awhile, the door refused to budge.

"Why can't we use magic to open this thing instead?" Happy asked.

"Because it's too risky. Our enemies would be able to detect our magic and locate us here," Erza explained.

Natsu stopped pulling and warmed up his hands.

"Alright. I'll just give this door a taste of my fist!" He yelled as he let out a fiery punch towards the door.

But before he could connect with the stony surface, the door opened and revealed a certain blonde haired celestial wizard behind it.

Natsu's fist connected with her face and she immediately fell back as he realized who he just punched.

"Lucy!"

* * *

Lucy began to regain consciousness after awhile. Everyone was surrounding her, looking concerned.

"Lucy, are you ok?" Yukino asked.

Lucy opened her eyes wider, "Where...what happened..."

She began before she hits a sudden realization. The next thing that happened: Natsu goes flying backwards by one of Lucy's signature kicks.

"It was you wasn't it? What did you punch me for!?" She shouted as Natsu got back up to his feet and stumbled back over to them.

"Look, it was an accident! I didn't know you were behind that door, so I went ahead and tried to punch it down. Besides, it was to find you after all," he explained crossing his arms.

Lucy's face settled down into a grateful smile, "Thanks guys. Thanks for coming for me."

Gajeel scoffed at the air.

"Shouldn't be a big surprise, I mean we're supposed to be your protectors right? Of course we'd come for you," he said.

Lucy smiled and got up to her feet, "I guess so. But I'm glad you guys did come, we still have to get Aquarius's key from that old man."

They all nodded and got up to continue down the new area that was behind the door. Lucy told them that when she got here, she was planning to try out each exit that led out of the room one at a time, and she started off with the door where she met with everyone else.

Jellal found a map engraved on the wall and reads it over.

"That way," he pointed at a large pool of water that led under the walls and towards somewhere.

"If we swim through the water, it'll eventually lead us to the main part of the temple, where it should be easier to find the exit to this place," he explained

They all took turns jumping into the water, trying to reduce the sounds of splashes, and began swimming above the surface of the water underneath the wall, and through a dimly lit tunnel.

Orga looked around in awe.

"Man, this temple is so cool. I wonder how long it took for the people here to build it," he said.

"Probably for centuries. I mean, I know that this is our enemy's structure, but it is a pretty amazing one," Lucy said. "Speaking of which. How did you guys manage to get to Alvarez from Ishgar so fast?"

"Well, we had the help of the guild and the old Grimoire Heart airship that Meredy managed to get working," Gray explained.

Lucy's eyes widened and she then she looked sad.

"Oh. So does that mean Master and everyone else..." She began.

Natsu finished for her, "Yeah, they know. Don't worry, you and Yukino can continue on. We won't stop you."

Lucy smiled gratefully at them and they continued to swim through the water tunnel until they saw light coming from up ahead. The light was coming from the room where the whole team climbed out from the pool of water and dried themselves the best they could.

Jellal looked around, "Alright, from here it's going to be easier to navigate around. We just have to walk straight forward from that door over there."

He pointed at the fancy double doors that were right in front of them, "Then we should be able to finally leave this place. And have a good idea of where August is with that final Zodiac key."

They all followed Jellal through the doors and down the next few rooms.

* * *

Eventually, they all got the final room which would lead them to the outside of the temple, which is luckily, on the outskirts of Alvarez. The room was rather large and decorated with a large pool and fountain on one end of it.

"The exit is straight ahead. Come on," Jellal said as they all began running towards the door.

Suddenly, the door they came from opened and revealed the one person they were after.

August entered the room confidently, with several guards by his side. He waved for them to leave before talking to the group of people standing in front of him.

"Ah. What do we have here? The criminals who escaped from their punishment. That means I'll just have to increase the degree of your punishment for running away. Prepare to feel the wrath of the Spriggans!" August said as he spun his staff around and planted it to the ground.

All of the wizards got ready to fight, but Lucy stopped them.

"Wait. August, I know that you don't like to inflict pain on others. I experienced that first hand when you stopped the guards from continuing to beat me back at the torture room. All I ask for, is what belongs to me and that you have in your hands. Please return the key, and we'll leave and never come back," Lucy offered.

August looked at her intently, "Nicely said, Miss Heartfilia. It's true that I don't like to inflict pain on others, but that's because I'm just like any other decent person. We may be on opposite sides, but I still have some humanity. Therefore, I make my own choices based on what I believe is right and wrong. And I cannot let you guys go! For the sake Alvarez and our Emperor!"

He then unleashed a great wave of magic that smashed everyone down to the ground.

Erza made the first move when she got up from the ground and shot her circle swords at August using her Heaven's Wheel Armor, but he easily made them vanish into thin air.

Sting and Rogue activated their dragon force modes and rapidly attacked August from all sides. But then, Augsut drained them of their dragon force, and they returned to normal, allowing him to easily push them back with magical beams from his staff.

"Man this guy is tough. But not for long," Gajeel cracked his knuckles.

He runs forward and attempted to hit August with both of his iron fists, but the man suddenly vanished...and then reappeared behind Gajeel. Luckily, the iron dragonslayer was expecting that.

"Lily, now!" Gajeel commanded as the black exceed jumped down from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, transforming into his battle form and preparing to strike the old man.

August lets himself be hit, but to everyone's surprise, he wasn't affected by the attack at all. Smirking, Augsut reflected the attack back on Pantherlily, knocking him straight into Gajeel.

Natsu glared angrily at August and charged forward with Jellal beside him. The fire dragonslayer used his fire dragon's iron fist to boost himself forward and tried to lay a hit on August.

But ended up getting hit back with the old man's staff.

Jellal attempted to use the same strategy with his Meteor power to make August confused. He then nodded to Arcadios to used his magic decrease cannon.

While Arcadios got ready to use the cannon, Wendy suggested to everyone that they should try to all attack at once like they did back at Crocus. Agreeing to her plan, they all prepared their final attacks they used on the three Spriggans back at the palace.

Sting and Rogue combined their powers.

Erza requiped into her sea empress armor.

Minerva prepared to drain the space around August of oxygen.

Gray created an icey rose garden that surrounded the walls of the room to prevent the old man from trying to escape.

Orga and Rufus also worked together to make a powerful thunderbolt.

Wendy supported everyone with her Arms spell.

Yukino and Lucy simultaneously summon two of their spirits.

Natsu prepared for his breath attack.

Gajeel threw out his steel version of an iron dragon's iron fist.

Arcadios and Hisui held the magic decrease cannon steady, preparing to fire it twice.

All of the attacks went hurtling down towards August, but at the very last minute, he disappeared.

And in his place reappeared Erza!

The red haired requip wizard did not have time to react, and so, got mortally hit.

Jellal quickly rushed to her side.

"Erza!" He cried holding her closely. Everyone rushes over to Erza's side, who managed to keep onto her consciousness, but was severely drained of her energy. August reappeared behind them, laughing smugly.

Natsu clenched his fist.

"Why you...were you afraid, bastard? Was that why you switced places with Erza!?" He yelled at him as he lets out his breath attack.

August only smirks and easily diverted the attack around him.

"Don't you see young ones? I cannot be harmed by an element. Solid or dry! I'm techically immune to all of your attacks!" He cried as he began shooting dark beams of magic dangerously at every single wizard.

They all continued to try to hit him or trick him, but to no avail.

Lucy eventually got tired and stopped to catch her breath.

"There's no way that we could beat this guy if we just continued on like this...he's like invincible to almost everything we throw at him!" She said to herself.

Lucy evaded the battle to join Erza's side, where Jellal held her close and Wendy attempted to heal as much of her wounds as she can.

"Erza...why did it have to be you..." Lucy whispered.

Suddenly, a thought came to her mind, "That's it! He said he cannot be harmed by any solid or dry element! Erza was in her sea empress armor, so her attacks are water-related! That's why he chose her to be hit by our attacks!"

Just as Lucy said this to herself, Gajeel managed to hit August, but only barely. The old man managed to dodge the attack.

In his efforts to escape the hit, the key of the water bearer fell out of his robes and into the pool of water.

Lucy looked at her lost golden key, intently staring at it.

"I can't charge in the middle of the battle towards the pool. I'll be caught, I'll just have to summon from here like I did back at the top of the temple. Geez, I hope this idea works."

She closed her eyes and concentrated deeply, bringing her hands up to the air, "Open, gate of the water bearer: Aquarius!"

It took a few seconds before the water of the pool where the key is in began to glow in a bright golden light. Then the blue mermaid spirit appeared from the water, all ready to wash everyone away. Lucy's eyes filled with tears upon seeing the oldest celestial spirit she had as a friend.

Aquarius's eyes turned to look at Lucy, but not glaring this time.

"It's about time you've called me in a place of top level exquisitness. Beats all the other places you've ever summoned me from," she said.

Lucy sighed in exasperation, "Yeah yeah, I know. Will you just get on with it? We kind of need you now. I don't care if you wash me away too. Though I kind of prefered a much more heart-warming reunion with you."

Aquarius smirked, "Just like old times."

August was taken by complete surprise upon seeing the spirit of the water bearer.

"What? But this can't be!"

He never finished the sentence.

Aquarius threw out her signature tsunami level wave of water that literally, washed everyone away. As soon as the water died down, the spirit gave one last smile to Lucy before disappearing and her key reappears with Lucy's other keys on her belt.

Lucy got up to see August weak and shriveled, holding onto the pillar, but still standing.

"He's weakened by the water guys! Now's our chance to beat him!" She cried.

Natsu gets up from the ground.

"Alright! I'm all fired up!" He yelled.

Jellal also rushes in on the attack, "This is for Erza!"

Soon, everyone followed the two wizards and all simultaneously unleashed their magic attacks at the now immobile August, who takes the hit.

After that, everyone stopped to catch their breath and waited for the dust to settle down, revealing a battered August lying on the ground. Natsu and Jellal nodded in approval before walking towards the exit. The rest of the wizards give one final glare to the fallen Spriggan before also leaving.

Lucy however, looked with pity at August and held her keys closely. As she begins to leave, August stirred and called out to her.

"Wait," he said.

This caused Lucy and the rest of the wizards to stop.

"The Sprites Forest. It's just outside of this temple, to the north. You will all be safe there. My story ends here, but that doesn't give me the right to end any of yours," August said before losing consiousness.

Lucy nodded in gratitude.

"Thank you," she whispered before joining the rest of her friends and they all leave the temple towards the Sprites Forest.

* * *

In the forest, the whole team rested by a calm area with nice soft grass and a large tree that gave them a cover for the night. The entire forest was made up of large twisty trees that seem to glow along with the tiny firefly-like creatures that float around the entire area.

"I believe these are called Sprites. Huh, maybe I should bring Juvia here one day when the war is over," Gray said as he reached out to touch one of the glowing creatures.

Wendy and Minerva laughed as they played with the little Sprites dancing around them.

Jellal watched over Erza, who has healed drastically thanks to Wendy since the battle with August.

He and Gajeel talked with Makarov on the communication lacrima. "

We've landed in a safe zone just on the edge of the continent. It's too late for us to get to you, so we'll just come and pick you up around late morning tomorrow," Makarov said to them.

Jellal nodded in agreement, "Alright then. See you in the morning."

The lacrima then cuts off. Gajeel leaned back against the tree.

"Well. Looks like it'll be a quiet night tonight. I didn't think I would ever say this, but. I'm glad there'll be no trouble for us tonight," he said. Jellal agreed.

Natsu walked over to them and looks down at Erza.

"Hey, will she be ok?" He asked.

Jellal looked down at the young woman's sleeping face.

"Yeah. She's a fighter. That August guy was tough, we might've not been able to beat him if it was not for Lucy's quick thinking and summoning skills," Jellal replied.

Natsu looked around, "Speaking of which. Where is Lucy right now?"

"Sorry, but I overheared. I think Lucy went down to the hot springs down the end of those trees over there. She probably just wanted to relax," she explained.

Natsu gots up, "Thanks. I'll go check on her."

He began walking down the towards the direction of the hot springs.

* * *

At the hot springs, Natsu sees Lucy standing in the water barefooted, in an outfit that looks similar to her Aquarius star dress form.

 _Probably given to her by Virgo from the celestial world,_ he thought.

She had her hair down and was looking up towards the full moon in the sky, but for some reason, she felt his presence behind her.

She turned around to face him, her face showed that she is sad.

"Natsu, hey. I was kind of expecting you," she began.

She looked him standing awkwardly on land.

"Well, don't just stand there. Come in," she gestured for him to enter.

Natsu took a deep breath, then removed his sandals and arm sleeve before entering the hot springs.

Lucy smiled gently, "Hmm. I still remember the picnic we had back at that forest. It also had a hot spring too. You were with Jellal during that time weren't you?"

Natsu nodded and walked around the shallow water, getting used to the feeling of having his clothes wet.

"Yeah. I wasn't exactly feeling like getting a soak that day. But I'm here right now," he said.

Lucy nodded, "I'm glad that you're here. Back then, at the picnic. We were all so carefree, like we're heroes going on a journey to vanquish the world of evil. Kind of cheesy, but now things just got so real. It's not like how I imagined things to be. Not the way they sounded like from the book I've read. But I—I'm playing the role of the heroine. And yet, I don't know what to do."

Lucy looked forward towards the large twisting tree in the middle of the hot springs. Natsu walked closer to her.

"But didn't you already made your decision? On whether or not to defeat Acnologia? Oh right—um, the princess told us the consequence of what would happen to you and Yukino once Acnologia is down," he admitted.

Lucy blinked several times, "Ok. Well, then... you know now. And by the way, I didn't exactly make my decision yet. I mean, I told most people and myself that I'll defeat Acnologia, but deep down...I just don't know if I really want to...die."

Natsu dove underwater and swam around before surfacing.

"Hey. Lucy. We're not going to stop you or anything like that. Whatever choice you make, you know everyone will fully support you. So if you aren't fully committed to defeating Acnologia, just don't do it," Natsu suggested.

There was a glitter in Lucy's eyes as she considered this, "Well, I guess I could. Then that means we'll have to continue fighting this war until we win. And Acnologia and Zeref would still be around afterwards if Yukino decides to quit too...but I'll be able to do things I've always wanted in my life at least."

Natsu nodded, slowly smiling.

"Uh huh. We could travel all over Ishgar by doing all kinds of jobs! You'll finally be able to finish paying off your rent and relax with the rest of us! We'll stroll through life like it's a piece of cake!" He cried.

Lucy smiled brightly, getting excited.

"We'll be able to eat all sorts of food and go to fancy parties, and I get to make cake with Erza and Wendy. And hopefully see Gray and Juvia's wedding too!" She giggled.

Natsu looked up to sky. A bright smile formed on his face. _Maybe things are looking up after all!_

"Lets go home Lucy. We'll still win this war with or without the defeat of Acnologia. Whatever enemy that comes knocking on our doostep, we'll defeat them again. Just like we always do. I know we'll all make it through together," he encouraged.

Suddenly a drop fell into the water.

It was Lucy's tears.

Natsu turned around in shock to see Lucy suddenly crying.

She stuttered, "I'm sorry, but I won't make it through. I—I just can't abandon this. Acnologia needs to be gone...I can't back out my promise!"

She began sobbing, her tears streaming down her face and dripping into the water.

Natsu slowly walked straight towards Lucy from the front. He stopsped only inches before her. Hesitating for awhile, he gently lifted her head up to meet his, her tear streaked face is glowing in the moonlight as she slowly stopped her crying. He gently leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I promise. Whatever you choose to do, I'll follow you until the end," he whispered gently.

Lucy's eyes filled with tears of joy and she lets them flow, enjoying this nostalgic moment here with Natsu, under the full moon in the hot springs of a rather enchanting forest.

He closed his eyes and leaned in closer, as he gently pulled Lucy towards him. Slowly, but gently, their lips met and all of the Sprites around the hot springs just suddenly glowed brighter than normal.

Lucy's heart beat a mile a minute as she momentarily forgot how to breath. But soon relaxed against the warm arms of the young man before her. Closing her eyes, she let this moment sink into her bones.

Natsu pulled Lucy in closer, gradually becoming more passionate and aggressive. He hoisted her up so that her legs would wrap around his waist. They parted for just a second to gaze at each other. Natsu lifted one hand to gently brush against the flushed and wet cheeks of the celestial mage.

Lucy smiled warmly as she tilted her head towards his fingers, feeling the impact they made against her soft skin. They leaned in towards each other again at the same time to continue the kiss. Natsu gently puts Lucy back down into the water and pushed her back against the large twisty tree in the middle of the springs.

The tree looke like it was glowing with a thousand twinkling stars as the young couple leaned against it. Natsu's hands roamed Lucy's body greedily.

His touch almost caused her knees to collapse, but she managed to hold on, as he moved down from her lips to her chin. Then to her neck.

Lucy sighed as she closed her eyes and silently wished for this moment to never end. Natsu's right hand went from her back to her arm. And then, to her hands, where their fingers interlocked.

He brought his face back to meet hers and they shared a single breath before their lips met once again.

Above them, the moon shone brightly in the sky. The rest of the team lied asleep elsewhere in the forest. And the Sprites continued to light around the hot springs.

* * *

 **What? Are you readers still here? Shoo! Give them some privacy!**


	10. Final Destination

**New chapter is up! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Ch. 10: Final Destination**

The night passed quietly and without disturbance. It was early morning, just awhile after the sunrise, that Natsu wakes up. He was leaning against the back of a tree sitting on grassy ledge near the hot springs.

Resting on his shoulder was Lucy's head. She looked so peaceful when she was sound asleep. Looking around, Natsu made sure no one was in the area before gently shaking Lucy to wake up.

"Hey. Hey, Lucy. It's morning," he whispered.

She began to stir and slowly opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings before looking up to Natsu.

"Wha...oh. Um...so it's morning," she said awkwardly, her eyes darting around.

Natsu gets up and takes her hand to help her up too, "Yeah, don't worry. I doubt anyone else knows that we were gone for like the whole night. Come on, lets get back to them."

He gestured for her to follow him. Lucy walked up behind him. Then after awhile, reached to take his hand and they continued to walk towards the others.

* * *

By the time they got there, everyone else was already waking up and walking about. Gajeel was the first to ask.

"What were doing last night salamander?"

Natsu shrugs, "Beats me. Not that it's any of your business."

Lucy tries desperately to hide her blushing face but was caught by Erza and Hisui.

"Oh. I think I get it. You're right, Natsu. It's none of Gajeel's business," Erza said crossing her arms.

Hisui nodded, "You should know better than to intrude on very personal matters." She added with a smirk.

Gajeel glared at them and looked to Gray for help. "Sorry man. Even I caught on to it," Gray responded.

"What? Caught onto what? Why won't any of you explain anything!?" He yelled.

Pantherlily sighed as he sternly told Gajeel to shut up. Everyone began laughing. Jellal eventually stopped the laughter and tells everyone that Makarov is coming with the airship to pick them up any minute.

"It shouldn't take too long now," Jellal explained just as the sound of engines filled the sky.

Above them was the Grimoire Heart ship and Warren's telepathy asked if they are all ready to board.

"Yes. Just drop the rope already!" Gray yelled.

Meredy threw over a rope ladder this time and they all took their time climbing up to the deck of the airship. Once they were all aboard, everyone immediately teared up at the sight of Lucy, all well and healthy.

"Lucy!" The Fairy Tail members cried overwhelming her with their hugs.

Lucy would usually push them away and complain about not getting enough personal space, but she decided to accept this just for this once.

Levy squeezed her best friend.

"I'm so glad you're back Lu-chan! You know, you could've at least told me what you were doing before leaving on an adventure that you may never come back on!" She scolded.

Juvia also gave Lucy a hug, "Even if we are love rivals. Juvia will always think of Lucy as her friend over thinking of her as Juvia's competition for Gray-sama."

Lucy sighed at the 'love rival' part again, but is glad everyone enjoys having her back.

Each guild member took their turn in talking to Lucy, who is a bit flustered at this sudden heartwarming action. But then she realized why. Because they know about her fate if she defeats Acnologia.

Tears well up in Lucy's eyes at the thought of having to inflict a great pain on all of her friend should she choose this fate. Meredy caught sight of Lucy's emotions and gently pulled her and the others away from the large crowd of people.

They went inside the ship and Meredy turned to all of them.

"Hey guys. It's good that you're all in one piece and everything, but the master wants to see you in the bridge. He wants to talk about what Lucy and Yukino wants to do. Good luck!" She informed them before skipping away.

Natsu started walking towards the bridge and everyone else followed shorty. Erza and Wendy walk up to Lucy.

"So Lucy. Have you decided yet? I mean we know that you already made up your mind, but just in case you've changed it," Erza began.

Lucy shook her head.

"No, I'm going on with this. I'm sorry," she replied.

"Don't be. We're all rooting here for you. Even if it may not seem like it. But honestly, it's so brave of you and Yukino to set out and defeat Acnologia!" Wendy beamed. Lucy smiled at the young girl's appraise.

Eventually, the bridge of the ship was right in front of them. Entering the area, Makarov turns around to face them. A serious but sad look crosses his face as he talks to Lucy and Yukino.

"Well ladies. I'm not one to stop what your hearts desire, but I'm not about to let you think we're forcing this on any of you. So if you wish to pull out now—" He began.

"No master! I mean—no. We're going to continue on. This isn't something that we feel that is forced upon us. We're going on with this out of our own morals," Yukino interrupted.

Makarov raised an eyebrow.

"And that is?" He asked.

Lucy looked at Yukino and saw the look in her eyes, genuine and deep. She stepped forward, gently clasping her hands behind her and puts on a look of gentleness and determination.

"What we believe is right. We're doing this for everyone. All the people. Of any continent. They live in fear of Acnologia and Zeref. We can ease them of that fear. That's it. That's our one moral," Lucy spoke.

Everyone gazed at the two celestial wizards with tears and proud hearts.

Makarov nods slowly.

"Lucy Heartfilia. And Yukino Agria. You're willingness is as hard as the bonds that tie this guild together. Words cannot express this feeling I'm experiencing at Ishgar's soon to be heroes."

With that, Makarov returns to the front of the bridge, leaving the celestial wizards and their protectors to talk. Jellal nods in approval at Lucy and Yukino.

"They...have certainly grown stronger," he proclaimed.

Natsu looks to him, "Well, they've always been strong from the start. It just isn't until now that they're actually showing it."

Princess Hisui called for everyone's attention.

"Everyone. Please listen. Now that we know Lucy and Yukino are willing to do this. We must prepare for our confrontation with our target. Master Makarov, have you detected Acnologia's current location?" She asked.

Makarvo nodded, turning on the lacrima displaying the map. He zoomed in on the area where Acnologia is.

"We've currently sighted him at near the southern borders of Ishgar. It seems to be heading away from the land and towards the oceans," he explained before Arcadios cuts in.

"That's good. Then we'll able to keep the damage to a minimal. We don't want the lives of innocent civilians to be lost or their homes to be damaged. This is about saving Ishgar, not bringing about more destruction. I want everyone to remember that." He commanded.

They all answered with a "yes sir!"

Natsu punches his fist, "Great! Now lets dethrone that so-called Dragon King! Lucy! Yukino! Are you with me?"

Lucy and Yukino nod in his direction.

"Lets hope for the best," Lucy wished.

"I'm sure we'll be able to do it," Yukino agreed.

Hisui waited for a moment before adding in something.

"Wait. There's something I've been wanting to tell all of you," she admitted.

Everyone, including Makarov turned to the princess.

"I've been doing my research in the defeat of Acnologia and Anna Heartfilia for quite some time after the Grand Magic Games. And I discovered this old legend. It said that the spirit of Anna Heartfilia is still around at the Great Cathedral on her birthplace. She would give young celestial wizards who sought out to use their magic for good advice and guidance," Hisui lectured.

Lucy leaned in with interest.

"So in other words, my ancestor Anna Heartfilia will be able to help me and Yukino in defeating Acnologia?" She asked.

Hisui nodded before continuing.

"Yes. Her birthplace is on an island called Storks. It's a couple of kilometres off the shores of Tenrou Island. But the main thing is, after doing a lot of research on all of these topics. I've come to the conclusion we're getting all the details in how to defeat Acnologia. That's why I was hoping if we can meet Anna's spirit, she would be able to tell us the whole story," she explained.

Everyone took a moment to digest those words. Jellal spoke first.

"I was the one who explained the story of Anna Heartfilia to Lucy and Yukino. And I did not know every component there was to the story. So I'd say yes. We should try to go to Storks Island."

Yukino nods in agreement, "I say we should at least give it a try."

She looked to Lucy, who was deep in thought.

"Alright. Lets go. I'm not about to miss an opportunity to meet my ancestor," she smiled.

Makarov set the airship in course for the island.

"Ok kids. It'll take about until late afternoon before we'll be able to get to the island. But we don't have enough fuel to make it the whole way. So we'll drop you off a few distances away and you'll paddle there on your own with the boats," he explained.

Natsu began to feel sick again thinking of boats, even though he's on an airship right now. Thankfully, Wendy was able to put the spell on all the dragonslayers again before they reached the deck. Natsu brushed away the thoughts of transportation.

"That's just fine Gramps. We'll get some fuel if there is a town on the island—"

Hisui interrupted, "There is."

Natsu grinned, "Great. Then we'll get you the fuel. Right after we pay a visit to the Great Anna Heartfilia."

* * *

It was a bit later than afternoon when they finally started paddling the boats towards Storks Island from the airship that is now resting on top of the ocean's waters.

Wendy had to avoid the Troia spell this time, due to the risk of its never being able to work again when they need it. So she and the rest of the dragonslayers hanged on to the outside edge of the boats, helping them travel through the water by kicking.

By the time they've reached the beachy shore. The sun was setting and the sky turned to a beautiful mixture of red, orange, and purple. Everyone began checking around the area for any nuisances or dangers or nearby civilizations. Hisui and Arcadios led the way.

"There should be a town on the other side of this forested area. It's not a large town, but people do live there. Hopefully they know about where the Great Cathedral is." Hisui encouraged them to keep their energy up.

Following the princess across the deep and twisty forest. The whole group managed to get to the other side where they saw the princess's facts were true. Sting smiled at the sight.

"It may be small. But it sure looks cozy."

He and Rogue began thinking of thoughts of sleep and rest. Erza and Hisui went up to talk to a few townspeople.

"Hello there. We are travelers from afar who've come to find the Great Cathedral," Hisui explained to a young man who is carrying some wood.

"It would be a great help if you could tell us where exactly the location is," Erza added.

The young man stared at them, seeking for the reason why they would be asking him this.

"Oh. You probably heard of the legend of Anna Heartfilia's spirit right? It's a bit strange. Not a lot of people know about it, so we don't expect anyone to come looking for the Great Cathedral. But if you do want to know where it is. All I know is that it's in the abandoned city of the island. Just across the bridge up the town. There should be a narrow forest and a rocky terrain. Travel north and you'll find it. The Cathedral is somewhere in the centre," he explained.

Erza and Hisui thanked him.

They returned to everyone else, who were admiring the tiny civilization. Erza commanded them back together.

"We're not resting here for the night. So keep up your energy. We're going to the abandoned city," she lectured.

With that, she and Hisui led the group up the tiny town and across some stretch of a grassy plain before crossing the large arch bridge that led to a thin forest.

There was nothing but a thin forest that they easily crossed through. On the other side, was a rocky terrain. Luckily, there were no steep drops or sharp edges, the rocks were rather smooth and sandy, making it easy for them to cross.

Even from this distance, they can all see the abandoned city's outline. Still, it's quite a distance and would take them some time before they could reach there. Once they got to halfway, most of them were stopping for a rest. Wendy put her hands on her knees and caught her breath.

"Sorry guys. I'm just a bit tired. I mean we've been through a lot from the past few days, I guess it's catching up to me," she replied.

Carla shook her head and went over to help Wendy stand straight.

"Sigh. I understand child. I think we're all getting a bit hazy now."

Minerva nodded.

"Come to think of it. I'm beginning to feel a bit sleepy," she admitted.

Jellal looked at all the tired faces of their group members. He looked up ahead and found a flat rock where they could all rest.

"Alright guys. Lets rest by over there. Once we feel more energetic, we'll continue on."

Natsu walked towards the place Jellal was pointing, fatigue also coming over him.

"We're nearing the end of our journey. We should take our time through with it," Natsu told himself.

Both the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth team were sitting around the little campfire made by Jellal and Arcadios by scavenging some leftover wood and with Natsu's flames. They just sat there, not exchanging a single word because they were left thinking to themselves about how far they've come since the beginning of their long journey.

It's been an unforgettable series of events for everyone. However no matter how serious the situation was, they managed to make it through each one together. It's now a matter of whether or not they can be successful in the climax of their journey, because they know not everyone will make it through.

Natsu having had enough of thinking and sitting, decided to stand up. He walked over to Lucy who was sitting next to him and gently put his hand on her shoulder while looking into the distance with determination.

Lucy smiled sadly at this gesture before Natsu slowly walked up the rocky ledges nearby that allowed him to look over into the abandoned city. From there, he could easily see the old rocky buildings and even the Great Cathedral sticking up from among the ruins.

Happy flew by his side a moment later, not surprising the fire dragonslayer.

"So this is it huh?" Happy asked. "The final moments of our journey?"

Looking at Happy, Natsu nodded.

"Yeah. I should glad. But I feel so stressed, so...afraid. And I don't usually feel this scared for anything," he confessed.

Happy understood.

"Aye. This has been like nothing else we've been through before. This time, we're going to take down our two greatest enemies...and lose two of our friends," Happy began to tear up.

Natsu comforted him, "Don't cry Happy. This journey is supposed to end with happiness and bliss. Don't let it go to waste."

Happy wipes away his tears.

"Aye."

* * *

 **Currently working on the next chapter. Can't wait until it's posted. Don't worry, it won't be too long...hopefully.**


	11. Anna Heartfillia

**New chapter update. Don't wanna talk much. Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the story.**

* * *

 **Ch. 11: Anna Heartfillia**

Without knowing, the group of wizards fell asleep around the campfire. By the time Sting woke up, calling everything else to wake up as well, night has fallen over them.

They all rushed to get up, tripping over each other as they tried to see in the darkness. Natsu grabbed a nearby stick and blew on it, creating a torch that allowed them a light source other than the moon and the stars in the sky.

Hisui and Erza commanded everyone to listen to them.

"Alright so now we're all rested up and everything, we can't waste any more precious time. Right after we meet with Anna Heartfilia, we're going to get some fuel and leave immediately for Acnologia," Erza barked.

"Don't forget that there is no turning back after we leave this island. You're either committed or not, Lucy and Yukino know their choices, if you feel uncertain with that, then stay behind," Hisui added.

Nobody stayed behind, instead they all smiled confidently and backed up the two celestial wizards.

Natsu put a hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"We know their choices, but we also know ours too," he said.

Happy flew on Lucy's other shoulder.

"Aye! What are we still standing around here for? Lets go!" He commanded.

Happy flew ahead with Natsu running after him, both friends laughing as they went. Hisui, Erza, and Jellal ran after them, desperately calling that they don't know where they're going. The rest of them followed after them.

Gray, Wendy, and Gajeel ran with Lucy. She is gives them a soft smile.

"No need to stay behind you guys. Run ahead, I'll catch up."

Gray scoffed, "And miss out on spending what time we have left with you? Lucy, we're not forgetting the consequence and loss we're going to have once this is all over."

Wendy smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"I want to enjoy what we have before it's gone. It's hard to imagine things ever being the same again after Acnologia's defeat. But even during a time like this, I want to cherish every single moment."

Lucy felt tears well up in her eyes. Her friends were right, these little moments were so very precious even in times of darkness and despair. They had each other, and things won't ever be like this afterwards.

* * *

The ruins of the city was not all that difficult to travel and navigate through. Though the structures were old, crumbling, and stony. Nothing really blocked their path or hindered them in any sort of way.

It was more of a beautiful stone city than the ruins of an old civilization. There were many large rounded buildings that were creatively shaped and extremely tall. In fact this whole city seemed really urban compared to the other towns the wizards were used to.

Eventually, they reached the Great Cathedral. Which is not what they expected to be.

Instead of a large church-like appearance, the building was more squared and simple. It was extremely large, and the inside of the building was a long hallway that seemed to lead to several other halls in a maze like pattern.

Natsu began to feel sick by just looking at the area.

"Man, this reminds me of the temple back in the Alvarez Empire. Except bigger!" He groaned.

Arcadios walked up to the first door that leads to the next hall.

"Everything will be fine. I memorized the entire map of the area and the puzzles we'd have to do in order to unlock the next hallway. Just follow my lead," He commanded as he spun the wheel on the door in a specific pattern until a click could be heard and the door opened up.

Everyone followed the knight into the next hall, where he pushed the statues on the ground tiles to a specific location, unlocking the door.

Hisui looked impressed, "You did a good Arcadios. I also memorized the area too. Well at least I tried to. But you're doing great so far. Thank you."

Arcadios shook his head humbly, "No. I'm just doing my part in this journey."

Lucy put her hands together, "Well then, we won't interfere."

* * *

After several more minutes of puzzle solving and walking through many different hallways, the group got to the last room of the Cathedral.

It was large with beautiful stained glass images on the wall and old stony steps that led to a slightly higher level in front of them. However, there is no sign of a spirit or a the feeling of one nearby. Yukino looked confused.

"That's odd. Princess, are you sure we're in the right area?"

Hisui nodded vigorously, "I'm positive. Remember the man back at the town? He confirmed that Anna Heartfilia would appear before celestial wizards who would use their powers for good."

Lucy began to sweat and clasped her hands together, looking up at the top of the steps.

"Are we...not doing the right thing? Great celestial wizard, Anna Heartfilia? It is I, your descendant, Lucy Heartfilia. My friend Yukino Agria and I came here, looking for you guidance. Please help us." She quietly said.

A figure suddenly moved over at one of the bleachers on the left side of the room on the second level. At first, it looked like a wisp of light, then the image became more clear.

A young misty-looking woman stood before them, wearing a blue, white, and gold outfit with a white cape and tights. She resembled Lucy in the blonde hair, the round brown eyes and not to mention the extremely curvaceous body.

The whole group was stunned as they gazed at the spirit of the great Anna Heartfilia before them. Lucy couldn't move nor speak, until Yukino gently pushed her forward towards the spirit.

At first, nobody spoke a word, until Anna tilted her head and looked at Lucy. The young celestial wizard tried hard to stand her ground.

"So I was right," Anna suddenly said in a playful voice.

Lucy and Yukino were both confused. "Huh?"

"My descendants DO get more attractive the further down the line," Anna explained.

Lucy felt her cheeks go red, but it wasn't in embarassment.

"Oh uh...thank you. But you're not too bad looking yourself ancestor."

The spirit threw a hand, "Please don't refer to me that way. It feels really really really awkward between family. But if it makes you feel better, go ahead. Though I prefer the name Annemarie. Just kidding, call me Anna. It's better than calling me great great great great great...grandmother!"

Yukino looked at Lucy as if to say _is this how the great Anna Heartfilia really is?_

Lucy shrugged in reply. She focused on the reason why they came here.

"Ok then, Anna. We've been through so much and in just a few days and all for a single reason, to do what you did over 400 years ago. The impossible."

Yukino continued on from there.

"400 years ago, you summoned all of the spirits and the thirteenth one in their eclipse forms to defeat Acnologia. Lucy and I have been preparing to do exactly what you did. We want to bring another time of peace for the people we care about."

Anna's expression went serious, "Yes, I did. But upon doing so, I ended up sacrificing my own life and taking another one with me. The duration of defeat of the Dragon King is only ten years—"

"Which doesn't seem like a lot but it's worth it. It'll be enough time for us to prepare against Acnologia when he awakens again!" Yukino persisted.

However Lucy caught onto something that Anna said in her last sentence.

"Wait a minute. What do you mean by 'taking another one with you?' You said you 'sacrificed your own life and took another one with you.' What do you mean by that?" She asked.

Anna's eyes turned sad and looked to the ground. She pursed her lips uncomfortably before looking at the two celestial wizards and gently speaking.

"It's not something that I wanted nor planned to have happened. But it did, and I realized that it's also necessary. Now without further ado, you two came for guidance right? And I shall give it to you."

Anna gestured towards all of the wizards behind Lucy and Yukino.

"Now. Choose," she said.

Yukino looked from the wizards to Anna.

"What?"

Anna explained, "Choose among your friends. Just one person, one person who is very close to one of you. He or she shall be the sacrifice to ensure the defeat of Acnologia is successful."

Lucy and Yukino's eyes widened along with everyone else. Hisui and Jellal stammered.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Another sacrifice? But I thought the celestial wizards were the only ones to give their lives," Jellal replied.

"It must be part of the unfinished story of Acnologia's defeat. I knew coming here was the right thing, but I didn't know it would be like this," Hisui mumbled.

The spirit of Anna nodded.

"Exactly princess. Let me finish the whole story. Once I summoned the thirteen spirits in their eclipse forms and they've put Acnologia in the state of stasis, I had to remove them of their eclispe lacrimas to allow them to return to normal and back to the celestial world. I was successful in all of them but one.

The thirteenth spirit, Opiachus, was under Acnologia's dark infuence from the battle like the rest of the twelve, but it wasn't a true Zodiac so I lost control of her."

Anna's voice cracked a bit at this part and she pulled herself together.

"Sorry. Anyways, I couldn't remove Opiachus's lacrima or send her back, so she went out of control and became dangerous. But I wasn't alone that day, my fiance, Chris Kenji, accompanied me to help defeat Acnologia.

He was also a skilled wizard and a smart one too. He realized, that in order to remove Opiachus of the eclipse lacrima, he would have to do it physically, so...he merged himself with the celestial spirit and forced it to it's normal state and back to the celestial world.

But not before Opiachus inflicted a mortal strike on my body, thus ending my life moments later. Two lives were lost that day. But nobody knew of Chris's sacrifice that was needed to complete the final battle."

The entire room fell deatly silent. Lucy and Yukino looked to their friends, breathing rapidly and shaking their heads.

"No...no...no! Are you saying we would have to choose among our friends to be merged with the thirteenth spirit?" Yukino yelled.

Anna shook her head.

"It can't be just anyone. That someone must be very close to the ones who will vanquish Acnologia. Or else it wouldn't work."

Lucy shook her head even harder, "I can't allow that! I won't do it! This is meant for us to be happy! What's the point of bringing happiness if nobody is there to enjoy it with you?"

Hisui looked to Anna with begging eyes.

"Anna Heartfilia. Is there any other way for us to do this? A less painful one perhaps?"

Anna took awhile before answering the princess's question.

"I...don't know. I'm so sorry everyone. I know how hard this must be on all of you. But it's something that must be done. But knowing you people, I'm sure you'll come up with something...and vanquish all evil forever."

With that the spirit of Anna Heartfilia had vanished away. Lucy ran towards the empty spot where the spirit once stood.

"Anna! Please don't go yet! You have to help us find another way! Anna!"

Natsu walked up to Lucy, "Lucy. It's not going to happen. Listen, if it comes down to it, I'll volunteer to be your—"

"NO!" Lucy harshly cuts Natsu off.

Yukino backed Lucy up.

" _NO_ body is going to be used as a sacrifice. NObody is going to die. Anna Heartfilia said that we'll be able to find a different way of defeating Acnologia. And we will!"

Natsu's eyes widend. Gajeel's jaw dropped and everyone looked at the two celestial wizards with hope.

"You mean that you guys..." Sting began. Lucy nodded and smirked.

"That's right. We're not going to sacrifice ourselves either. If you all promise not to sacrifice yourselves, then we won't either. Lets find a way to bring happiness, this time for reals."

Jellal stepped towards Lucy and Yukino.

"I understand your intentions, but the problem is we don't even know where to start. I mean we came this far because—" Yukino interrupted him.

"Of research," she ended.

Suddenly Hisui and Arcadios lit up.

"That's it! Everyone, we can go to the dragon's graveyard back in Crocus! The last time we were there, we learned of the dragon civil war. We should be able to find something that may be helpful in creating a different way of defeating Acnologia!" Arcadios exclaimed.

Natsu pumped a hand up in the air.

"Now that's an idea!"

Happy agreed, "Aye sir!"

Lucy walked to the front of the group, "Then lets go."

Erza stopped her, "Are you sure? I mean, if you don't feel ready or comfortable—"

Lucy put up a hand and smiled at Erza, "It's alright. It's like what The princess said."

Hisui raised a brow, "What I said? Oh!"

The whole group of friends yelled together.

"There is no turning back!"

Lucy added underneath her breath, "Not anymore."

* * *

 **Please like, review, follow. I know, I'm being boring.**


	12. What will happen if the gate closes?

**Special two chapters in one day combo. I don't Fairy Tail or Square Enix, just the story.**

* * *

 **Ch. 12: What will happen if the gate closes?**

The group of wizards rushed back to the airship on their boats, carrying the fuel with them. It was now early morning and the sun gave a beautiful streak of light over the surface of the ocean's waters.

There's a new aura surrounding them today. Instead of feeling regretful and held back, they now have a strong sense of motivation and perseverance. Lucy and Yukino especially, they couldn't stop thanking the princess for suggesting the visit with Anna Heartfilia's spirit.

Hisui didn't mind at all though, she felt grateful to have made up for what happened back at the town of Kizue.

"It's really not a big deal. I never actually planned for that to have happened. But I guess it did and I'm very glad of it too," Hisui blushed.

Lucy shook her hands up and down.

"All this time, we've been feeling wary of completing the journey even though we kept saying our hearts were set in on it. And now. Now we have nothing to hold back! Princess, this is great!"

Gajeel and Pantherlily talked amongst themselves about seeing the dragons' graveyard again.

"How does it feel to go back there again? I mean you were the first out of all of us to have discovered the dragons' graveyard. Even though it was by accident," Pantherlily asked.

"Yeah. Salamander had a lot of nerve pushing me away from the battle. But I must admit he got guts. Anyways, going back to the graveyard reminds me of only one thing," he muttered.

Pantherlily nodded in understanding. Gajeel was still a bit in shambles after the appearance and disappearance of their dragons after the battle with Tartaros.

Wendy and Carla are also conversing about the same topic.

"I just hope that I'm able to call up a dragon that could tell us about Acnologia's weaknesses. The last dragon Zirconis told us about the dragon civil war, but there wasn't much about Acnologia himself," Wendy said.

"It doesn't matter who you call up. Every little bit of information we can get is thanks to you and the dragon you summoned." Carla replied.

Happy joins in on the conversation.

"Yeah, but hopefully, the dragon will be nicer this time!" He exclaimed.

Natsu justs stares into the distance, thinking about the destruction of Acnologia and Zeref. However he was also thinking about Igneel. And how much he wished to have talked to him some more.

On the other boat, Sting and Rogue tried not to think about the events of the last Grand Magic Games. Rogue especially didn't want to think of his future self.

"I still can't believe I was responsible for all that." He muttered. Sting and Frosch attempted to cheer him up.

"Hey but we're way past that. Besides, you didn't become that future you and that's all that matters, ok?" Frosch put up two hands.

"Fro thinks so too!" Rogue smiled as he pats his exceed's head.

Lector comes in with them, "Yep. And think about it this way, we're kind of redeeming ourselves by defeating the Dragon King and the Black Wizard in one battle! We're going to be heroes!"

Sting nods, "Yeah. But the important thing is bringing a better life for all of us."

* * *

Once they all reached the airship, the members of Fairy Tail greeted them and took the fuel to the engine room. Makarov immediately made way for Crocus as the entire group dispersed to talk to their friends. Natsu walked towards Wendy who was talking with Macao and Romeo.

"Hey guys. What are you talking about?" He asked.

"Nothing much, except about the fact that you almost lost your motion sickness. Almost," Macao snickered.

Natsu started yelling and complaining.

"Hey! Well it's better than moaning and looking all pathetic while on any sorts of transportation! Besides, I'm not feeling sick at all right now! So I win! I'm over motion sickness!"

Romeo gazed at him with appraising eyes.

"Wow! That's great Natsu! But Gajeel, Sting and Rogue kind of already got over theirs the first time they came on board. Oh and Wendy too," the young wizard explained. Natsu shrugged and crossed his arms.

"Eh. Whatever. Besides, where is Gajeel, Sting and Rogue?"

Wendy pointed down at the door that led to the engine room of the ship from the deck.

"I saw them going down there. I think they were going to help tighten the energy tanks."

Natsu rubbed his arms and began walking towards the stairwell, "I doubt they can do that easily! I'll show them what true strength is!"

Wendy ran after him, "Natsu! Wait up!"

* * *

Down at the engine room, which was actually quite spacey and clean, was Gajeel and Sting who were attempting to turn the wheel of a large tank without success. Rogue looking around the room for something they can use to turn the wheel.

"Grrr, why isn't this working?" Gajeel complained.

"This is pathetic. How are we supposed to beat Acnologia if we can't even turn a simple energy tank wheel?" Sting added.

Rogue found a wrench-like tool and ran over to them, inserting the claw part onto the wheel.

"Alright now. Lets do it!" He yelled as he pushed against the handle of the tool while Gajeel and Sting pushed the wheel forward.

Natsu and Wendy suddenly came in, slamming the door behind them.

"Hey guys!" They yelled nearly giving the three dragonslayers a heart attack. Which caused them to suddenly turn the wheel, allowing the energy tank to decrease in letting out its steam.

Gajeel glared at Natsu, "What was that for Salamander? You nearly scared the hell out of me!"

Rogue shrugged, "I don't know. But we did manage to tighten the tank, so that's all that matters."

Natsu walked up to Gajeel, "So what if I scared you? I came down here to help! And I did! So please be more grateful!"

Wendy and Sting tried to calm things down.

"Whoa whoa there guys. Are you actually going to fight over something as minor as this?" Sting asked.

"Lets get back on the deck. There are things more important that we should know about," Wendy said.

"Yes. There are things that are more important that you guys should know about," a voice said.

All five dragonslayers turned around to see Leo suddenly walking towards them with a serious expression on his face. Lucy wasn't anywhere nearby so they assumed he came through the gate on his own. Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"Loke? What are you doing here? Lucy's up on the deck if you want to find her."

Leo shook his head, "I know that. And I would've done it already if I wanted to see her. But I came specifically for the five of you right here."

"Why? What did we do?" Wendy asked.

Leo comforted her.

"It's ok. You guys didn't do anything wrong. But there is something that I must show you. We don't have much time...before all of our time is up...and Acnologia and Zeref is finally defeated," he replied mysteriously.

Suddenly a bright light filled the room and all the dragonslayers fell to their knees as the light consumed them.

* * *

Seconds later, the light disappeared and they realized they are no longer in the airship anymore but in the celestial world. Natsu gaped at Leo, who was still before them, only this time with the rest of the Zodiacs.

"What is going on here?" The fire dragonslayer demanded to know.

"Your future," Leo replied.

All of the dragonslayers turned serious and all demanded for answers.

"Enough with the vagueness! Just get to the point already!" Gajeel yelled.

Sting agreed, "If you have something important to say. Just say it."

Virgo pointed behind them and as they turned around, they saw themselves in the area and time when the dragons attacked Crocus during the end of the Grand Magic Games.

"We're already showing the answers to you," the maid spirit replied.

Natsu looked around in awe, seeing everyone including himself in the exact positions and doing the exact things as they had during that night.

"I see it. But can't any of these people see us?" Natsu wondered.

Capricorn shook his head, "No. This is just an image projection of a time stored in the memory of the stars. But this event is critical for you to understand what we're about to say."

Just as Capricorn said that, the Natsu of that time used Atlas Flames's powers to destroy the eclipse gate, thus sending away all of the dragons and people who came from the gate.

Rogue nodded in understanding.

"I remember this. Once the eclipse gate was destroyed, it stopped functioning and all of those who came from it disappears as well."

Sting was still confused though, "But I don't understand, what does this have to do with us?"

Libra and Pisces turned the image projection into a new one showing a large beautiful grassy meadow with manicured lawns and carefully tended trees. In the middle of the area lied a large eclipse gate.

Untouched, wide open, and still glowing with magic power. Wendy gasped at the sight of this.

"Another gate? But where is this? And why is it here?" She asked.

Natsu squinted his eyes, somehow feeling that he's been somewhere like this place before.

"Wait a minute. This place seems familiar."

Aquarius sighs in annoyance, "Of course it does. It's the Heartfilia Konzern, Lucy's home. This is the northern edge of the entire property, where the eclipse gate of the 400 year old plan set in stone by the dragons, lies."

Natsu turned to look at the spirit.

"400 year old plan? You mean the plan our dragons made, which was to send us to the future to defeat Acnologia?" He asked.

Aries nodded, "Uh huh. Things were going as planned until...the losses of the entrance and exit gatekeepers of eclipse."

Leo saw the confusion in the eyes of the five dragonslayers, so he decided to explain some more.

"Eclipse is tended by a celestial wizard on both sides of the gate. Anna Heartfilia opened it 400 years ago for you five to enter and her descendant, Layla opened the exit for all of you to come out.

But Anna died prematurely due to her rash actions in putting Acnologia in a state of stasis, and we lost Layla after she decided to use her life force in replacement of Aquarius's key. Therefore, the eclipse gate should in theory, stop functioning."

Rogue looked at them like they were crazy.

"But that's impossible! We saw the eclipse gate we came from in the image projection! And it's still functioning! How?"

Leo and the rest of the spirits began to glow in a golden aura, similar to how they were when Lucy and Yukino summoned all of them at once to close the gate back at the Grand Magic Games.

"It's because of us. We, the twelve Zodiac spirits have been keeping the gate opened all this time because the purpose of using it has not yet been fulfilled. The dragons wanted Acnologia to be destroyed and until he has been, we will keep the gate functioning."

Sting and Gajeel gapped at them.

"But then that means...what?" Gajeel asked.

"We've been keeping the gate opened for so long." Cancer said.

"It's been a great burden on all of us. We can't use our full potential as celestial spirits. And it's a great strain on the timeline of the world." Sagittarius added.

"We're getting very tired of this. After all this time..." Leo started.

"Will you please let us rest?" All twelve of the spirits asked, their golden auras slowly decreasing as they stopped glowing.

Wendy was the first to respond.

"Of course we will. We'll lay the heavy burden off of you as soon as we finish off Acnologia, then you guys won't have to keep the eclipse gate opened any longer," she said.

Gajeel, Sting and Rogue all smiled and nodded in agreement, only Natsu suddenly realized something important.

"Wait a minute. If I'm actually correct on this, then...so you guys were keeping the eclipse gate we came from working since Anna and Layla are both gone. Until we defeat Acnologia, the gate will finally stop functioning so that means..."

The other four dragonslayers suddenly also saw where Natsu was leading on to and began to shake. Leo gave them a look of sympathy.

"Yes. Once Acnologia is defeated and gone. All of you will share the same fate as the dragons that attacked during that final night of the Grand Magic Games. Please everyone, don't tell Lucy and Yukino. At least not until the time is right to tell them."

With that, the spirits began floating away and the bright light filled the area again.

* * *

The dragonslayers all found themselves back in the engine room of the airship, on the ground and surrounded by several of their friends. Lucy kneeled over Natsu.

"Oh! You're awake! We were all so worried," she exclaimed.

Natsu and the others all got up from the floor, stretching their bodies.

"Wha—what happened?" Wendy asked.

Levy gently supported the girl.

"We found you guys unconcious here a few minutes ago. None of you looked injured so we didn't suspect an attacker of any sorts and thought something else might've happened."

 _Something did happen, t_ he five dragonslayers thought in unison.

Yukino helped Sting and Rogue up, "Are you sure you're alright? Did the motion sickness just suddenly come back? Or was it something else?"

They both shook their heads.

"Nah. We're fine, but I think I kind of need some air," Rogue replied. "How about the rest of you?"

He understood that none of them felt really comfortable being around Lucy or Yukino at the moment. Natsu nodded and immediately got up and walked away from Lucy.

"Sounds good to me," the rest of them followed him on the way up.

Gray and Minerva exchanged glances. Lucy pondered in thought.

"That's weird. Is something bothering them? Nah, if there is. I'm sure they'll handle it fine, no need to worry."

Yukino looked uneasy, "Still. If something is bothering them, we should know. We need everyone's head to be in the game in this moment."

Minerva agreed, "It's not the best time to deal with personal problems. So lets go see if they're feeling alright."

Gray walked past them and back upstiars.

"Hopefully it's just motion sickness."

On the deck of the ship, the dragonslayers seemed to be fine and upbeat, chatting with everyone and impatiently waiting until they arrive in Crocus, which they did about an hour later.

* * *

The group got off the airship and walked towards the area of the dragons' graveyard, passing by several people who were attempting to rebuild the destruction Acnologia brought the last time they were here.

A few guilds were also here to help with humanitarian needs and services. Seeing the suffering of the people due to Dragon King made Lucy and Yukino more motivated as they started walking faster towards the area of the graveyard.

The entrance of the huge cavern soon became visible and the group walked in and around the many rocks and bumps until they've reached the huge centre of the cave where the bones of several past dragons lied.

All killed by Acnologia. Natsu and Gajeel tensed at the sight of the bones, reminding them of memories they aren't too fond of. Wendy immediately got to work and ran from skeleton to skeleton, sensing any signs of magic or hints of something.

She stopped before a large skeleton near the end of the cave, a few distances away from the rest of the large group of bones.

"This is it. I can feel something," she picked up a large stick nearby and started drawing the magic seal for the spell on the ground.

As soon as she's finished, she kneeled and clasped her hands together, casting Milky Way.

The familiar bright green aura filled the room as she caught onto the soul of the dragon that once inhabited the bones before her.

Sting nudged Natsu as he witnessed this.

"So this was what happened after that day where you and Gajeel battled with me and Rogue eh? Got to admit, it's pretty cool," Natsu grinned.

"Yeah it was! Told us a lot about the history of dragons and how Acnologia came to be."

Lucy shushed for them to be quiet, "Shh! Wendy's calling up a soul right now!"

Just as they turned heads back to in front of them, the soul of a large dragon that seemed to be engulfed in flames appeared from the skeleton before them.

The whole group watched in awe while Natsu's mouth fell agape. The soul of the dragon that Wendy called up was none other than Atlas Flame. The dragon looked down at the people standing before him.

"Who was it who called me to talk?"

Natsu waved, "Hey Atlas Flame! Don't you remember me?"

The dragon looked confused, "Uh...where did we meet?"

Natsu jumped up in shock, "The night where me and you destroyed the eclipse gate! Motherglare? Remember that? Or maybe when we saw you back at the Sun Village where you were the eternal flame! Remember any of that?"

Wendy and everyone else began to sweat at this conversation. She quickly waved her hands to attract the dragon to her.

"Please don't mind him. I'm the one who called you."

Atlas Flame began to chuckle, "I was just kidding. I remember most of you. However, I'm very surprised that you, young girl can call me all the way from the Sun village. Yes these were my bones, but my soul does not inhabit here. I'm very impressed."

Wendy looked shocked, "Really? I didn't know that. Wow...but anyways, what I called you up for is something we all hope you can help us with."

The dragon nodded, "Yes. Go on."

Wendy looked to everyone else before saying, "We want to know Acnologia's weaknesses."

Atlas Flame immediately tensed at that name and his eyes flared.

"Acnologia...why would you want to know? As far as I know his only weakness is being unable to find a worthy opponent."

Lucy and Yukino stepped up.

"Please, we beg you. We already had a plan in defeating him, but it was too much for us to handle. But there is another way, we know there is!" Lucy yelled.

Atlas Flame still looked blank. Yukino tried helping him out.

"We just need something that we might be able to use on Acnologia. Anything you know is fine. I mean he is a human right? Will he be weaker in his human form?"

Atlas Flame shook his head.

"Even in human form, he is just as powerful as he is when in dragon form. After all, he was still human when he slayed all of us dragons and became one in the end. I still remember when he was just a student learning the art of dragonslaying magic.

He was such a devoted learner back then...full of strength and potential...I don't know where things went wrong. Igneel was a great teacher, he never had a student who turned to the dark side before."

As soon as those words were heard, Natsu ran up to the dragon.

"Wait. Are you saying that Acnologia learned dragonslaying magic from Igneel?"

The dragon looked down upon the fire dragonslayer.

"Yes. Acnologia was one of the first people who became a dragonslayer. Your father and mentor, Igneel, saw something in him, but could've never predicted the pain and suffering his student would bring. You, Natsu Dragneel.

Igneel accepted you from your older brother Zeref that day because he wanted to train another student, despite what happened with his previous one."

Natsu couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I...I don't believe it. And I thought I was only connected with Zeref. Now I find out the dragon of destruction and I shared the same teacher?"

Atlas Flame stood up taller.

"There is a good side to this though. Igneel knew Acnologia very well, he knew his strengths...and his weaknesses. If you want to know a way to defeat Acnologia, speak with the soul of Igneel."

Gajeel scoffed, "But how? All of our dragons were residing inside of our bodies all this time. We don't know where their souls are located!"

Wendy thought for a moment before lighting up with an idea.

"Wait. But our dragons were last outside of Magnolia after the battle with Tartaros right? I think if, just maybe, because I don't know for sure. But is it possible to call their souls right there?" She asked.

All of the wizards brightened up at this suggestion. Atlas Flame also nodded.

"It's worth a try. I shall take you there with the little power I can use while in this state. Everyone please huddle closely."

As they all grouped together, the ground beneath them began to shake and rumble.

"What's happening?" Hisui asked.

"Shouldn't be too dangerous...I hope," Happy nervously replied.

Atlas Flame shook his head as he began to disappear. "No my friends, you'll be alright in my ' _flame around of the world_.' It'll take you to where you need to be."

Lucy began to panic, "Wait, what? Are we going to burn?"

She was never able to finish that question before the ground erupted and out spewed a huge ball of white, yellow, and orange fire, engulfing them and speeding across the air at high speeds.

Natsu began laughing out loud.

"Haha! Now this is what I call a real transportation!"

* * *

 **Boy am I ever tired. Finished this like at 11 at night! But I'm glad. Hope you guys are too!**


	13. Guidance from the Dragons

**It's been awhile readers. Sorry for the long wait, I had a lot of things going on in my life. From school projects to piano exams, to the final exams of the semester. Well, now it's finally summer for me, and that means more chapters! Please enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but this fanfic.**

* * *

 **Ch. 13: Guidance from the Dragons**

The flame that engulfed them vanished as soon as they touched the ground, revealing the outside of Magnolia where the final battle with Tartaros was held and where the dragons departed from the world.

Natsu gazed at the area where Igneel fell in battle against Acnologia, the ruins and damage was still fresh. He wiped any tears that spring to his eyes as the rest of the dragonslayers walked to the area where they said their final farewells to their dragons. Wendy fell to her knees and began quietly crying over the loss they all suffered from that day.

Sting looked up to the sky, remembering how Weisslogia looked like when he ascended away, Rogue comforted his friend by patting him on the back. Gajeel crossed his arms and stood his ground, though deep inside, he mentally repeated Metalicana's last words to him.

"You've got that nasty look in your eye," he couldn't help but smile to that.

The rest of the wizards let the dragonslayers take their time in letting their feelings out. Lucy walked up to Wendy and comforted the young girl.

"Hey, it's alright. The dragons were happy when they left. Lets make them proud, we'll defeat Acnologia, all of us," she soothed.

Wendy smiled as she wiped away her tears and began drawing the magic circle on the ground again. Throwing the stick away, she kneeled down and concentrated on the Milky Way. As she did, Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue closed in around her.

The great green aura surrounded the whole area, this time with more vibrance and colour. The ground shook and the sky began to glow with several misty colours. Then a great light shone down on them, unlike the previous dragons, whose souls emerged from the ground, Igneel's soul emerged from the sky.

He was the first to reach the ground, then Grandine, Metalicana, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum all appeared from a different corner in the sky and landed before them. A barrier of magical particles was formed around them as the five souls of the dragons landed on the ground.

Natsu slowly walked up to Igneel, who stood there looking back at Natsu. As he got closer, he eventually stopped, knowing that if he continued, he would pass right through.

Wendy got up from her kneeling position and tearfully gazed at Grandine who gently nodded her head at the young dragonslayer. Sting pursed his lips as Weisslogia tilted his head towards the direction of Igneel.

"Isn't there something you all want to talk to us about? That is why you called us out here right?" Igneel asked.

Natsu nodded fiercely, "Igneel...I know now. The connection between us, and the Black Wizard, and the Dragon King...I know now that the final battle is going to be between the three, but _we_ will emerge as the victor."

Igneel beamed with pride at those words.

"Natsu. You've really grown, not just in size, but also in intellect. You're right, the final battle will be between the humans, the immortal, and the dragon. To emerge victorious, you would need to know your enemy's weaknesses," he said.

Wendy nodded and shyly fiddled with her hands.

"Yes. That's why we wanted to talk to you. Acnologia...he was your..." she began.

"...my apprentice, yes, I know that. And I see that all of you know that now as well. He's strong and resilient. I was never wrong about his potential, but I was wrong about his future. However, there is something I've yet to say about my old apprentice." Igneel finished.

The wizards all leaned in closer to get a better chance of hearing what Igneel was about to say.

"Acnologia, not being a true dragon, has a human soul that is currently shattered with his pride of destruction and power. That's the reason why he keeps on going. He has a physical conscience deep within him that is severely corrupted after slaying many of us. Once he lost sight of his purpose of topping every being he sees, he will stop functioning," Igneel explained.

Grandine continued, "The reason why Anna Heartfilia needed the spirit of Opiachus is to heal Acnologia's damaged conscience. That removed him of his sight and purpose, thus causing him to come to a standstill and over the time of a decade, his soul would eventually become corrupted again and he reawkens to continue reigning terror."

"Acnologia only lives to fight and shed blood. That's how he awakens and continues on," Metalicana added.

Skiadrum nodded, "It's his physical conscience, once that is dealed with. He will be no more."

Igneel gestured to all of the wizards before him.

"The true battle with Acnologia will be the battle with his very self, not one with his physical body. Keep that in mind humans," Igneel commanded.

The dragons began to fade away as the light shined down upon them.

Rogue cried out, "Wait! But how are we supposed to do that? Tell us more!"

Skiadrum looked down with gentle eyes, "We've told you all that we know. The rest is up to you."

Igneel and the other dragons began floating away.

"Just remember, we are still watching over your kind," he said before dissipating away completely.

The whole area returned to normal and Lucy and Yukino rushed up to the dragonslayers.

"Well? At least we know how to fight Acnologia," Yukino said.

Sting nodded, "Yeah, but it's harder to do it than to think it."

Gray agreed, "When we think about combat, we always battle with our bodies. We use our minds to motivate us, but this is a battle solely with the mind of our enemy. I agree, how are we supposed to do that?"

Minerva quietly said something under her breath, but nobody noticed except for Lucy.

"Wait guys! I think Minerva wants to say something," Lucy called out.

Minerva looked a bit uneasy as she took a few breaths before talking.

"Well, I have this idea of maybe using the airship to get close to Acnologia. I mean, it's risky but if we can attract the dragon, we can maybe—and this is the part where I just kind of assumed—so I was thinking if we're going to fight his conscience, we need to get inside of him," she emphasized on the word 'inside.'

At first, everyone looked at her with silence, then Jellal nodded and lit up.

He pointed straight at Minerva, "That's it! That's what we need to do! We need to attract Acnologia to us and then we'll jump off the airship and into his inner core through the mouth. Don't worry guys, I've done my research here. We won't get hurt going inside, but it's a matter of getting in there, that's the real problem."

Orga rubbed his forehead in frustration, "That's right. The dragon would probably knock all of us out of the sky before we could even get close enough to him."

Erza jumped in immediately.

"That's what we need. A distraction. A large distraction to keep his attention away from us as we approach him. And I think I know just how to get one," she said.

* * *

It's been such a long time since the group of wizards seen or been on the battlefield. It was nearly a shock to them to see all the destruction and the injured fighters around the tents as they walked past them. There were many different wizard guilds here, gathered together to fight back the forces of the Alvarez Empire.

"It's almost surprising," Erza remarked. "There's the battles that's still going on between our current enemy while we are all out and about finding a way to defeat them another way. We can't forget the rest of our comrades here."

Gray and Wendy walked over to Lamia Scale to talk with Lyon and Chelia. The rest of the group dispersed among the wizards here to talk to them about their experiences and find out about how they're doing here on the main battlefield.

Erza, Jellal, and Minerva walked up to the tent where the Mermaid Heel guild members are resting. Milliana instantly jumped onto Erza with happiness, despite her injuries, looking brighter than ever.

"Erzie! Oh, how I missed you so much! The battles just seemed so dull without you and the rest of your guildmates here to cause all the destructive damage!" She cried.

Erza flushed at the compliment/insult, "I missed you too Milliana. I'm sorry for being away for so long, but I promise it was for the better of all of us. Now, could you tell me where Kagura is?"

Risley Law jumped off the chair she's sitting on and walked towards them.

"Oh you're looking for Kagura? She's over on the other side resting. I got to warn you though, she's feeling pretty...down since what had happened with Dimaria."

Minerva nodded in understanding, "We'll be more sensitive. Thanks."

They walked over to the other side of the tent. Erza smiled at Minerva. She squinted her eyes.

"What?" Minerva asked.

Erza shook her head.

"It's nothing that big. I was just remembering the final battle we did at the Grand Magic Games. Back then, we were all competitors for the top spot. But now, we're all in this together...kind of ironic you know?" She remarked.

Minerva's face fell, "Well, I guess so. Those are memories I don't want to go over, so lets just get down to business. Is that alright?"

Erza saw the pain in Minerva's eyes, so she nodded and stopped talking.

Ahead of them, Kagura sat kneeling on the carpet with her eyes closed and looking quite pissed. Erza stopped Jellal and Minerva from proceeding any more as she walked closer to Kagura. The female warrior wizard opened her eyes before Erza could call out her name. She looked shocked to see Erza before her.

"Erza? Long time no see. Where have you been while we were being pounded endlessly with Alvarez armies?" Kagura asked.

Jellal stepped out from his spot, cautiously followed by Minerva. Kagura tensed a bit at the sight of the territorial wizard.

Jellal began speaking as he sensed this new tension in the air.

"Kagura, you must understand that none of the wizards including Erza wanted to leave the battlefield. I was the one who dragged them away in pursuit of another way to take out our enemies."

Hearing that, Kagura sat up straighter and let her guard down a bit.

"Oh? And what is it?" She asked.

"We're going to defeat Acnologia and Zeref. If you hadn't heard, the Black Wizard has merged himself with the dragon. If we could kill the dragon, then we'll also kill Zeref," Jellal revealed.

Kagura nodded, eager to know more, "So I'll assume you've been trying to kill Acnologia?"

Erza shook her head, "Not exactly. We had a plan in mind, but it costed us too many lives so we've come up with another plan that would probably work. But we'll need all of your help to do it. Minerva can fill you in on the details, it was her idea after all."

Minerva nervously gazed at Kagura, who has tried to settle down her expression a bit. Kagura gave Minerva her attentiveness, which relaxed her a bit.

"Ok so, after we've discovered Acnologia's weakness, we knew how to beat him, which is to get to his inner core and defeat his physical conscience. But in order to do that, we need to get close to Acnologia and therefore, we need a distraction. A very big one," Minerva explained.

Erza smiled at Minerva and nodded, turning to Kagura she gestured to her.

"And that's where all of you guys come in. I had this idea in my mind, and I must admit it's a bit outgoing, but it might work. Acnologia thrives on evil thoughts and actions, if there's nothing wicked going on in the world, then he will let his guard down," Minerva said, getting eager.

Kagura raised a brow.

"So what are you suggesting? That we surrender to Alvarez and stop this war?" She asked incredulously.

Even Jellal and Minerva were shocked at Kagura's assumption.

Erza ignored them and continued on.

"No. There will be no winner in this war, the only winner is Acnologia if we don't come to terms of peace with Alvarez. We all have a common enemy here, and we cannot give in to it," Erza replied.

"Even if that's true, I doubt that the Alvarez people would agree to a truce! Their Emperor Spriggan will meet the same fate if Acnologia is killed! Do think they'd want that?" Kagura replied fierceness.

"Do you think they'd want their Emperor to live forever causing pain and destruction to the world?" Erza replied back with the same level of fierceness.

Jellal jumped in on the argument.

"Zeref. He's been wanting to die since the day he's become cursed. It wasn't until now that I know he's not a bad person overall. He's been living for over 400 years...and seen nothing but death and suffering. However he also had his fair share of happiness with people he constantly tries to push away...just so they would be safe from him. He finally got to see his younger brother...Kagura. Tell the Alvarez Empire that their Emperor asked to be granted eternal rest," he said.

Before Kagura could complain, Jellal threw something large before her.

It was Zeref's Memoirs.

The three women looked shocked to see such a book being held by Jellal all this time.

"This is your proof of what I just said. I doubt the people would not hesitate anymore after seeing its contents," he explained.

With that, Jellal walked away and left Erza and Minerva there to talk with Kagura. Erza turned around to look at her friend.

"Well? Would you help us?" She asked, almost begged.

When Kagura didn't answer immediately, Minerva spoke.

"Lucy and Yukino. They were ready to sacrifice their lives into vanquishing Acnologia. Then we discovered that another person must also be sacrificed. That was our original plan in defeating Acnologia, don't you think comparing that to this new plan, this can bring about more happiness?" Minerva suggested.

Upon hearing that from Minerva, Kagura squeezed her eyes shut. When she finally opened them, she had a look of determination and motivation in them. Standing up and holding Zeref's memoirs, she said.

"We're not going to lose another wizard, comrade, or friend today. Because we'll be coming on together to get rid of our enemy."

Smiling, Kagura turned to face Erza and Minerva who stood up and nodded towards her.

"Thank you so much!" Minerva exclaimed.

"Now, we're going to be heading off towards the direction of where Acnologia's current location is. Here, I'll give you this lacrima," Erza handed a small round yellow lacrima to Kagura before explaining its functions.

"Once you feel a small pulse from it. You'll know that's it time to end all violence. Don't screw this up."

Kagura tightened her grip on the lacrima.

"I won't. I promise," she said fiercely.

Erza put a hand to her shoulder in encouragement before leaving with Minerva to find the rest of her teammates. Kagura watched them go off.

"We'll do our part. You just do yours."

* * *

After Jellal, Erza, and Minerva regrouped with the main team, they set off for the outskirts of Magnolia again.

Back there, they called Makarov and the rest of Fairy Tail down at Crocus to come pick them up. They weren't quite happy to have known they left without telling them first, but everything's fine now. The airship arrived a couple minutes later, picking them up.

Natsu walked around the ship, making sure everyone is preparing all they need to face Acnologia. The Thunder Legion are now helping Makarov in the bridge of the ship, and they have tracked Acnologia to be somewhere near the area around Tenrou Island by now.

The team down in the engine room are working double time to pick up the pace to get the airship towards the dragon before he decides to move again.

During this time, Lucy and Yukino changed into different outfits. They emerge with knee length kimonos with matching arm sleeves. Yukino's is white and translucent and now has a silver headband on her hair.

Lucy's is pink with purple flowers along the skirt and has her hair tied in two little buns that rest above on top of either side of her head. The two celestial wizards conserve their energy as they would need to give it their all once they are inside Acnologia.

Lucy looked out the window of the sitting room while Yukino attempts to meditate. She sighs and tries to stop her heart from beating so fast.

"I can't believe it. After all this time. We're finally going to face Acnologia," Lucy remarked.

Yukino opened her eyes from meditation and nodded.

"Mmhmm. From the start of our journey, I was always excited, but I never quite anticipated that I'd something like this," Yukino reflected.

Another voice joined the conversation, "Maybe that's a good thing. It means that you're taking this seriously."

The celestial wizards turned around to see Leo suddenly standing before them, smiling. Lucy sighed with relief.

"Loke! What are you doing here?" She asked.

He cocked his head to the side before casually walking towards them.

"What'd you expect? To leave two lovely ladies alone before they step right into the pits of hell? No, that's the not real reason I'm here," he laughed at his own joke, while Lucy sarcastically laughed and silently apologized to Yukino for the outgoingness of one of her spirits.

Leo stopped laughing and cleared his throat.

"Nah. The real reason why I'm here is because I need to tell you something important before the final battle with Acnologia."

This caused the cheery mood to suddenly become tense.

"Once you're all inside Acnologia's core. You would realize there's no way you could find its physical conscience. You would need to make enough violence in order to call it out. To do that, just summon us. All thirteen of us in our eclipse forms. Once you defeat all of us, Acnologia's physical conscience should appear," Leo explained.

Lucy and Yukino gasped, "But wouldn't that cause you guys to get out of control? I mean we heard that Acnologia's influence would rub off on you and—"

Lucy was cut off by Leo, "Don't worry. Once the physical conscience is defeated, so is Acnologia. And all you need to do is summon us again and send us back to the celestial spirit world, that's all you two need to do. We'll all be able to rest after that."

Yukino nodded slowly and Lucy agreed moments after.

"Alright. We'll do it. Just tell us when to call you out," Yukino replied.

Leo grinned as he gave them a thumbs up. "You'll know. Us celestial spirits couldn't have asked for a more honourable wizard. We're happy that it's you who wield us." He said before returning to the celestial world.

Erza, Wendy, and Carla came in as soon as Leo left. They went up to Lucy and Yukino.

"Well. We're closing in on our target. This it girls. What we've been waiting for all this time. Are you ready?" Erza asked.

Lucy nervously put her hands behind her back.

"I don't know if I'll be ready, nor if I'll be of any help at all. But no matter what, I must always be ready to give it my all."

Wendy nodded happily, "Mm. Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better."

Carla held onto Wendy's hand.

"Just please careful alright?" She asked, concerned.

Wendy smiled, "Hey don't worry. You'll be coming with me! Along with Happy, Lily, Lector, and Frosch! We can't leave you guys behind!"

Yukino relaxed at this sweet moment of just talking among friends.

"I want to make this count. We have to kill Acnologia. We must do it...today!"

Erza smiled at her determination, "Then lets get out there and start helping out in preparations. We'll need everyone to do their part."

* * *

 **We are getting closer and closer to the anticipated final battle. Just what will happen?**


	14. The Dragon King

**Hi readers! I'm back with another chapter. This whole story is going to end pretty soon, and I'm not sure if I want to do another fanfic of Fairy Tail. I guess that'll have to depend. I'm currently working on another story at the same time that's of FF7. If you're a fan of AUs and OCs, then go ahead and try it out.**

 **I don't own anything but the fanfic, everything else belongs to Mashima and SE.**

* * *

 **Ch. 14: The Dragon King**

Natsu walked up to Warren, who was helping out in giving orders to everyone on what tasks they are to do.

"Hey Warren!" He waved at him.

Warren gave Natsu a curt nod before telling another team to go and activate the shield on the west side of the ship.

"Hey Natsu, what's up? Feeling all fired up yet?"

Natsu crossed his arms.

"That's my line! But I'll let it go just this time alright? I want to ask if maybe there's a way I could maybe learn telepathy?" He quickly asked.

Warren looked surprised at Natsu's request so he quickly added.

"It's just in case we get separated inside of Acnologia's core, we'll need at least someone to keep in touch with everyone else. And besides...I kind of need it to announce something important...before we beat Acnologia."

Warren nodded in understanding, then reached into his pocket for something.

"Hang on a minute. I can't teach you telepathy, but you can use this."

He held out a folded headband with a small piece of lacrima inserted in the middle of it. Warren explained how to use it.

"Just put it on your head and put your two fingers to it just like the way you see me do it. You'll be able to use telepathy with the people you want to communicate with. You'll increase your distance in conversation with people by turning that little button there beside the lacrima."

Natsu took the headband from Warren, staring at for a moment before putting it on his head and giving him a grateful smile.

"Thanks a lot buddy," he replied.

Natsu then began walking towards the bridge of the ship where he met up with the rest of the dragonslayers.

Sting asked him, "Well? Did you get it?"

Natsu held out the headband for all of them see.

"Yeah. But...how do you guys want to say it?" The fire dragonslayer asked.

Gajeel, who would usually just shrug his shoulders, thought hard and deep about it.

"Well, there's no easy way for us to say it. But lets just make it quick and simple," he said, barely audible.

Wendy shook her head.

"We know that. But it's when we're going to say that! I mean, nobody is going to accept that we're going to...you know. But they'll be even more mad if we keep it to ourselves," the young girl explained.

Sting nodded in agreement, "We should tell them right before we...leave."

Rogue cocked his head, "And when will that be? We'll be in the middle of fighting. So please explain."

Natsu stopped the conversation.

"Ok ok. Just leave this up to me. I'll explain everything when time is right. Trust me on this guys."

His eyes prooved that he was serious about this, so the rest of the dragonslayers gave in.

Gajeel walked up to Natsu, "You'd better not screw this up salamander. This is the last time we're ever going to see our friends again. Make it count."

Natsu grinned and nodded.

"I know. That's why I want all of you guys to go and talk to everyone one last time. Make this moment the best you could and for all of us. Oh and, get anything you need to say out of the way. There'll be no more chances for you to say it after the battle begins," he looked down at the lacrima Warren gave him and sighed.

* * *

At the bridge of the ship, Princess Hisui helped Makarov in preparing for Acnologia's encounter while Erza waited for the Thunder Legion to report once they got in the area of Tenrou Island. Evergreen went over to Erza.

"Erza, we're nearing the island. Acnologia is out of our range currently so we are safe. I think it's time for you to set your plan into action."

Erza shook her head.

"It's actually Minerva's plan." She corrected. "Where is she by the way?"

Bixlow shrugged, "Probably out there helping everyone in preparations."

Erza took a few breaths to relax herself and smiled to tell herself everything will go as planned. She took out the round yellow lacrima and activated it. A gentle pulse began to beat.

"Hopefully, Kagura can convince the Alvarez armies."

* * *

On the battlefields, Kagura and the rest of the wizards from various guilds stood their ground as the Alvarez armies neared. None of the wizards drew their weapons.

Lyon began to sweat as the armies came closer, even though they were slowing down due to the fact that their enemies seemed docile. He called out to Kagura.

"Hey. Are you sure this is going to work? What if they continue on?" He whispered.

Kagura turned around to give him a stern stare.

"I told you already. There'll be no more lives lost today. And I will make that happen," she began walking forward and stopped anyone who attempted to restrain her.

The Alvarez soldiers began to grow cautious and wary, but their leaders told them to keep moving on. As they neared Kagura, they saw that she still refused to withdraw her sword. Then suddenly, the female warrior wizard performed a great gravity change spell that lifted all of the soldiers in the frontlines off the ground.

"What's happening?" One of them panicked.

Once the soldiers have floated high enough, Kagura quickly undoed the spell, letting them fall freely towards the ground at high speeds. She turned around to face Eve, who was back at the frontlines of the wizard guilds.

"Now Eve!" She yelled.

As if on cue, the mage of blue pegasus casted a spell that immediately covered the ground with fresh snow, allowing the soldiers to land safely. Soon afterwards, the snow melted away. By now, many of the Alvarez soldiers are very confused as to what their enemies are planning to do.

A woman's voice rang out from the back of the line and made its way to the front. Dimaria emerged from the front lines, amused to see Kagura again.

"Well hello there. I see we meet again. Would you like another addition to your new outfit?" She cackled.

Kagura ignored that and remained silent as she stood her ground. Ajeel appeared at Dimaria's side, grinning as he tilted his head to the side.

"Aww...what are you little wizards trying to do? Beg for mercy? Do it right now and we'll show more than just mercy," he laughed.

Invel walked out from the soldiers and stood next to Ajeel.

"That's not funny. If they do wish to surrender, they should do it on our terms," he coolly said.

"Nah. Mercy's for weaklings. Lets just give them a good swift death. That'll teach you for messing with us!" Bradman yelled while swinging his scythe.

"I agree," Jacob replied standing next to Bradman.

Walh and Neinhart appeared later. Neinhart was quiet while Walh constantly asked if he could be their executor. Dimaria shook her head.

"I think that this woman should be taken care of first. Don't you?" She gestured to Kagura who by now is slightly trembling in fear.

Invel shrugged his shoulders, "What I really want to know though, is why would they be standing like this, when they know that trickery would not work on us."

Kagura took a step forward, planting her feet down firmly to get the attention of the remaining Spriggans.

"There's no trick to this. We're standing here to save us. All of us. That includes you people."

Ajeel raised a brow, "What do you mean? We ain't need no saving. But you little wizards would if you don't surrender right now."

Kagura shook her head, "Surrender wasn't the option I had in mind. But if that's what it costs for this war to end, then we'll gladly accept it."

All of her comrades' jaw dropped and began complaining. But she continued on.

"You see. To die for our purposes is honourable and brave. But to live for them is something even greater."

With that, she unsheathed her sword and raised it above her before throwing to the ground. The soldiers and the members of the Spriggan 12 looked at her with shock.

Behind Kagura, all of the wizards threw down their weapons or pieces of armor and kneeled on the ground. Kagura slowly walked up to the Spriggans, keeping her breathing to a steady pace.

"We choose to live for Ishgar and all of the people that we love, and care about. Do you choose to live for that too?" She asked.

The Spriggans were of mixed emotions by now, unsure of what to say. Neinhart was the first to speak.

"Wait. But why? You said that you stand here to save all of us, including the people of Alvarez. But why?"

Kagura was about to open her mouth when Dimaria interrupted.

"Forget it. She's just trying to buy time for her friends to kill Acnologia. They want to kill our Emperor!"

Kagura protested, "Wait! I—"

Ajeel cuts in, "We can't let them live! Attack!"

Suddenly, a great light shone, causing everyone to cover their eyes. Then a voice commanded for them to stop. After the light disappeared, August appeard from the edge of the battlefield, walking towards them. The Spriggans and the wizards were all shocked to see him.

August silenced anyone who attempted to ask him questions as to how he's still alive, instead he turned to face Kagura.

"Young one. We won't interrupt you anymore. Continue with what you want to say," he gestured for her to speak.

The Spriggans look at him incredulously. Kagura took a moment to catch her breath.

"Ok. What I wanted to say is that we all have a common enemy here. And that is the Black Dragon of the Apocolypse! I'm not talking about your Emperor who lives inside of it! He made that decision on his own, and it's a sign that he wants to end his story right here, right now."

She threw her hands down to emphasize her point.

August nodded at Kagura.

"And what proof do you have of this?" He asked.

She looked down for a second before pulling something out of her knapsack and threw it to the ground. August looked stunned for a second before picking up the book.

"The Memoirs of Zeref...so that's where it was," the great wizard was astonished.

Kagura nervously leaned forward.

"I promise, it was well kept and treated. The entries that Zeref wrote, they were all very touching and relatable. You can clearly see that he's been suffering nearly all his life, but still, he's been able to enjoy what little happiness he has in the world. He's got to see his Empire, all big and beautiful, he's got to meet with several nice people, whom he called friends, he's got to see his beloved younger brother..." Kagura stopped there.

Invel looked to August, asking if it's true. August nodded slowly.

"I've read this book once myself. I knew immediately afterwards...so, lets give the Emperor what he's wished for. He lived his life full circle now, it's time we did him a long overdue favour," he told to Invel.

The Spriggans were at first wary, but then Dimaria finally reached out and grabbed Kagura's sword, handing it her.

Kagura accepted it.

"There's no need in doing that," she replied.

Dimaria smiled, this time for real, "You're not surrendering. So keep the weapon. Oh and, we also choose to live...for our people."

Kagura turned around and pumped her hands up in the air. The wizards all cheered and ran forward to give her a bone-crushing hug. A few of them even tried to mingle with the Spriggan 12 and the Alvarez soldiers. Kagura removed herself from her comrades and took out the yellow lacrima, activating its pulse.

"Mission successful," she said to herself.

Walking back towards her allies, Kagura stumbles over a tiny bump on the grass.

Dimaria offered a hand to help her up. Kagura smiled as she accepted it and stood up, looking next to her, she took Invel's hand and gestured for him to take the nearest person's hand, who was Lyon. Invel reached out for Lyon, who at first was wary, but then warmed up to him.

One by one, all of the people on the battlefield began holding hands and looking to the sky. August stepped away from the large circle of people holding hands, and waved his staff, sending a great aura across the entire continent. In this moment, all discord and arguments that are taking place, suddenly ended.

* * *

On the airship, the Fairy Tail guild feels the warmth of August's spell. They reached out for their friends and looked forward with hope. In the bridge, Erza smiled as she felt the pulse of the yellow lacrima in her hand.

"Good job Kagura...good job," she sighed in relief.

Just then, the rest of main team entered from the door to check on their location. Natsu went up to the Thunder Legion.

"Well? How are we doing right now?" He asked.

Freed smiled and nodded, "We're doing pretty good. Everything's going smoothly and according to plan, we should be in range anytime—"

"ACNOLOGIA!" Bixlow shouted pointing forward out the window of the bridge.

Sure enough, the head of the great black and blue dragon appeared in the distance and was nearing the airship at high speeds. Gajeel smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

"Well, it's about time. It's now or never everyone! Lets go!" He led the team out of the bridge and towards the outside deck of the ship.

Makarov shouted through the intercoms for everyone to do their assigned tasks in keeping the ship stable and firing their cannons when needed. Natsu waited until everyone was out before he began running after them, his stomach mixed with excitement and fear.

Laxus called out behind him.

"Hey Natsu! How are you planning on getting inside that thing?"

Natsu stopped in his tracks, squeezing his fists.

"Well, if it refuses to let us in the easy way, we'll just have to get in the hard way!" He shouted in determination.

Laxus crossed his arms and laughed in amusement.

"Never mind. I guess you're all fired up anyways."

Natsu shook his head before leaving, "That's my line! Why is everyone always stealing it from me?"

* * *

 **Acnologia is here! How's the fight going to go down? That'll all be explained in the next chapter...**


	15. Inside the Core

**...And here's the next chapter! Hopefully, I didn't miss anything in my editing. (I really suck at editing). Sorry if the story is starting to feel a bit rushed, I personally think that I'm rushing too fast towards the end.**

 **Disclaimer: all concepts and characters goes to Mashima and SE, but I own this fanfic.**

* * *

 **Ch. 15: Inside the Core**

The team of wizards along with Hisui and Arcadios rushed out onto the outside of the ship, anticipating the battle soon to be fought with Acnologia. Natsu ran to the front of the group, looking at the dragon that is zooming in closer with every passing second.

He stood his ground and stared at Acnologia directly. Lucy, sensing his tension, puts a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"It's going to be alright. Erza had Kagura make peace with Alvarez and the lack of evil actions in the world should weaken him. This ship should be able to withstand his attacks," she assured him.

Natsu gently shook his head.

"No it's not that. It's just...we're probably going to see him in there..." he hinted.

Lucy was confused at first, but then understood what he meant.

"Oh...I see. But it's ok, he was probably waiting all this time to see you again. Lets make it through...together, ok?" She asked while smiling at him.

Natsu returned it before sensing something coming from Acnologia. The other dragonslayers also sensed it.

Sting began to back down a bit.

"This is going to be bad...everyone hang onto something!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Just as he said that, a great ball of blue light came hurtling from Acnologia at top speed and the wizards all ran back to hang onto the railings and handles on the outside deck.

The blue light passed by them with great intensity and force, the wind so strong, and the light so bright, that nobody could tell when it came or when it was over.

Yukino was the first to stand up and see that the ship was still flying the sky, albeit with a few broken railings and cracked windows. Natsu helped Lucy and the rest of his friends up before cursing out loud at Acnologia.

He cracked his knuckles before shouting out to everyone.

"Alright! We're going in! Do what your instincts tell you to do if he's about to attack again!"

Wendy nodded, looking serious.

"You got it! We'll give it our all!"

Arcadios got out an enhanced blade that glowed with magic.

"This is for all of us. Our futures. No room for errors!"

Acnologia flew closer and closer to the ship until it soared right above them and circled around to throw out several pelts of destructive force. The ship was tossed around like a toy in the air, but its shields are withstanding the intense damage.

The airship then began firing magic bombs at the dragon who didn't seem to be bothered by it at all and flew in at high speeds towards the side of the ship. This caused it to severely tilt and the team on the deck nearly fell over, but luckily, the Thunder Legion and Makarov managed to keep it flying in the air and stable.

Jellal sighed in relief.

"It looks like Acnologia's strength isn't as strong as it was back then. We just need it to stay still!" He yelled.

Gray took out a communication lacrima to try and call the bridge but Acnologia decided to go in for another round, causing him to drop the lacrima overboard.

"Damnit!" He yelled as Acnologia's tail rounded up to try and hit the ship off course again.

Jellal used his true heavenly body magic spell to prevent the dragon from doing so. This knocked Acnologia back a bit.

He smiled, "Whoa. I didn't know that he was that weakened."

Natsu and Gajeel both stepped forward and said, "It's not over yet."

In unision, they activated their breath attacks which detered the dragon and distracted it from Orga's lightning bolt. The wizards took their turn one at a time in pelting Acnologia with their powerful spells, but in the end, the dragon continues to stand. Wendy was shocked.

"No way...I thought it was weakened. Shouldn't it have succumbed to our attacks?"

Lucy and Yukino shook their heads.

"Not yet. We have to beat the physical conscience on the inside!" Yukino shouted.

Lucy nodded. "Yes, but we have to get near Acnologia first of all," she explained.

Gray groaned and began apologizing for dropping the lacrima. Rufus shook his head.

"No need to sweat. I've got an extra just in case," he took out another communication lacrima and called the bridge.

Makarov appeared.

"What is it children? Do you need any aid out there?" He asked.

Jellal nodded, "Yes. We need you to use the harpoons and get Acnologia close to us. As soon as we get inside of it, it should be docile so you guys won't be in any danger."

Makarov nodded, "We can do that, but one of our harpoons is damaged. Do you think it would work if we only use the few working ones?"

Gray volunteered himself forward.

"Leave that to me Gramps! I'll make a new harpoon for the damaged one right now!"

With that, he left to create an ice replica of the damaged harpoon on the side of the ship. Makarov looked relieved.

"Alright then, we're going to fire them. Just be ready to jump off when you need to."

The communication lacrima went off and the whole team ran to the front of the ship as the harpoons fired at Acnologia flying in front of them. As soon as they connected with its skin, the dragon began to fly and struggle against the sharp metal and chains. Acnologia began dragging the airship around, making the ride dangerously bumpy.

Natsu swallowed down his motionsickeness and tried to get to his feet.

"Alright...guys...it's close enough to us so lets jump onto that thing!"

Yukino was way ahead of him.

"I like your talk!" She said before jumping off the edge of the ship and down onto the dragon's back.

Lucy followed close behind then the rest of the team all jumped off the ship and began running up the back of the dragon, being careful in not falling off. Natsu began running to the front again, racing everyone to get to the head of Acnologia.

It was a difficult process as the dragon continuously sways to try and shake off the wizards on it. But they hang on tightly. Natsu called out to them.

"We're almost there! Get ready to jump inside!"

The team ran all the way up the scaly neck to the top of the dragon's head, but just as they were about to get to the end of the line, Acnologia suddenly jerked its head up violently. The wizards were all thrown high into the air.

Screaming, they attempt to turn their bodies around to face the direction they were falling. Wendy immediately used her arms spell to tie everyone close together. Natsu and Gajeel readied their fists as they saw where they'll be falling into.

The closed mouth of Acnologia.

Well, the two dragonslayers were ready to bust it open. Glancing at each other, they shouted in unison.

"Fire dragon...iron dragon...iron fist!"

The power of their impact allowed them to break threw the small opening between Acnologia's mouth and the whole group of wizards fell down the huge gap of complete and utter darkness.

* * *

Natsu felt as if he's dreaming. The feeling of no pain, no ground, and no pressure engulfed his body. The only problem was that he couldn't open his eyes. He could only imagine the place he was in, which was dark and starry, like the night sky.

However he was all alone, his friends were nowhere to be found.

"Gajeel! Lucy? Erza! Gray! Guys?" He cried out.

But that was only in his imagination as well, he couldn't really use his voice.

"Natsu!" A voice called out him. And this time, he didn't imagine it.

* * *

The moment he heard that voice, he began to feel as if he could open his eyes and move his body. Then using his real voice, he tried to talk, but it only came out as a light mumble. Suddenly, a sharp pain appeared on the right side of his face and his whole world just shattered around him.

Lucy and Erza kneeled over Natsu who just opened his eyes and winced at the slap Erza gave him in order to wake him up. Everyone sighed in relief as Natsu sits up from the area they landed on.

It isn't exactly a ground, it looked like they were standing in the sky. It was dark with golden glows like a sunset, and there were misty clouds that drifted around and disappeared, only for new ones to be created. Natsu took in their new surroundings now that he's awake.

"Is this Acnologia's core?" He asked.

Gajeel looked around as well, "Apparently it is. Kind of strange though. I'd expected it to be more like hell with all sorts of dangers."

Princess Hisui walked forward towards a large amber magic circle floating on the "ground." She turned around to face the wizards.

"This place...is where Acnologia's thoughts and feelings take place. So it must mean that he doesn't constantly think of violence and destruction, but the thoughts are still dark," she theorized.

Lucy helped Natsu up to his feet, who was amazed at the illusion of them standing in midair.

"Whoa, this'll take some time to get used to. Which is something we don't have," he quickly corrected himself.

Jellal nodded and followed Hisui.

"Alright. Lets go and search for Acnologia's physical conscience," he commanded.

Natsu and the others tagged along close behind. He called to them to wait.

"Hold on. There's something I must deal with first. It's important."

Lucy looked at him concerned, but he mentally told her that he knows what he's doing.

"I want to see my older brother again," Natsu solemnly said.

This caused nearly everyone to turn to stone in shock, except for Jellal, who simply nodded and smiled at Natsu. Natsu returned it and continued to explain.

"I want to give him what he wants me to do."

Jellal backed the fire dragonslayer up.

"Zeref should be somewhere inside of here. It shouldn't be too hard to find him. We'll be able to sense his presence before we get too near," he replied.

Natsu's eyes were filled with an expression he doesn't usually show, it isn't sadness, but it isn't anger or fear either. He looked like he wanted to see Zeref, but at the same time, not wanting to either. Erza sees this and decides to go along.

"Zeref is part of Acnologia now. Taking him out means we're one step closer to finishing our goal."

This persuaded them to join in the search, for Natsu's sake.

They continued to walk across the core, following the magic circles that occasionally appeared on the ground. After awhile of nonstop trekking that seemed to get them nowhere, the team comes across a large blue magic circle which traps them within it. Happy was confused.

"Huh? What's goig on?" Before anybody could answer, a great blue light engulfed them and they were transported to another area once again.

This time when they came to be, their surroundings looked oddly familiar, except extremely different. They were still inside of the core, but this time, they could see the purple and blue sky, filled with stars.

But the most significant changes were the large masses of land here and there, forming several paths for the wizards to take. The Fairy Tail wizards immediately recognized the landscape.

It looked like Tenrou Island. Gray was in awe.

"No way...but how did this happen?"

Natsu tilted his head, "It looks as if someone tore apart parts of the island and stuck it in here. I bet Zeref's hiding here somewhere though."

Jellal nodded in agreement, closing his eyes and concentrating.

"Yes. He is. I can feel his presence somewhere down there. He is waiting for you, Natsu. Are you ready?" He asked.

Natsu walked up next to Jellal, looking forward.

"No. But I have to be."

He ran forward through the landmass and towards several other familar looking parts of the island. Lucy and Erza also took in their environment.

"This was where the base camp was...and wasn't that the place where we fought Bluenote?" Lucy pointed out as they ran.

Erza nodded, "Uh huh. And I remembered those tunnels back there. That was part of the first trial."

Gray looked to the two girls.

"That's great and all, but we're trying to find Zeref. I remembered seeing him with Ultear somewhere on the island, but I don't know where exactly."

Jellal shook his head, "I'm afraid we won't know either. Zeref's presence is everywhere, I can't sense where he is exactly right now."

Sting groaned, "Well, what are we going to do? We're wasting precious time."

Arcadios looked around, "If we can't find Zeref, then we're going to have to worry about getting out of here."

Lucy disagreed with that.

"We can't just give up yet," she persisted.

Natsu stepped away from the arguing and thought deep and hard. An epiphany came to him.

"I got it! I know where he is!" He cried.

"Where?" Gray asked, but Natsu started running down the left side of the landmass they were on.

"Hey! I asked you a question!" He called after him as the rest of them began running as well.

Natsu sped up his pace.

"If I'm right, then Zeref should be at the part where Elfman and Evergreen accidentally ran into him during the second part of the trial!"

They ran through a much denser area, filled with trees and bushes, but as they got deeper in, the trees looked bare and pale. As if some death wave washed over it. Natsu stopped in the clearing of the forest. This was where he appeared just in time to rescue Elfman and Evergreen from Zeref's death wave.

And just as predicted, there in front of the wizards, was the Black Wizard himself. Calmly standing in the exact area where he was years ago when he first met Natsu. Zeref looked at Natsu in the eyes with an expression only a brother could understand.

* * *

Everyone looked at Zeref with large curious eyes, while Natsu looked at him with serious ones. Zeref stood his ground and broke the long silence.

"Hello. Natsu," he gently greeted.

Natsu stepped a few steps forward towards him.

"It's been awhile Zeref. I hope that this new place is suited to your ideals of a final home," Natsu replied.

The Black Wizard chuckled at that, which is an odd reaction for most of the wizards witnessing this scene.

"It has its flaws. But that's not what matters now. You're here, and that's all I care about. Look at you. You're all rugged and fatigued. Did any of you get any proper rest?" Zeref asked crossing his arms.

Natsu remained silent and stared at the ground. Zeref smiled and continued to speak.

"You, you really have grown, Natsu. I know I said it before, but it's true."

Natsu weakly nodded.

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter does it? I mean, I'm over 400 years old, I should've grown!"

Zeref sighed and his tone turned serious.

"I suppose you came here...to finish me off right? Have you even considered the consequences?" Zeref questioned.

"Yes, I have! Just don't make it more difficult. Alright? I had lots of time to think, and to know more about what you told me...about being a demon...and brothers...after thinking all of that. I decided to come here and see you one last time, Zeref. So please. Lets just get this over with! Ok?" Natsu replied in a fierce voice.

By now, tears were threatening to spill from Natsu's eyes.

Zeref gently smiled at Natsu and slowly nodded in consent.

"Ok. But first...let me do a favour for my beloved younger brother..."

A black mist formed over Zeref's hand and Natsu became wary, but it wasn't an offensive spell. The Book of END appears as Zeref levitates it with his magic. Everyone tenses at the sight of it, especially Natsu. Zeref closed his eyes.

"I know you've thought long and hard about this but...I can't let you go until you finish off Acnologia. So here."

A bright light shines around the book, but nothing is happening to Natsu. Instead, a thin trail of black mist coils itself around the front cover and gently goes over the letters of Zeref's name, one by one erasing it.

Natsu's eyes widened as the book dropped to the ground, now without the name of Zeref on it. He looked to the Black Wizard, who looked satisfied.

"Now you are no longer under my creation. Once I die...you won't die as well...but I got to warn you. I won't go easy on this last battle..."

With that, a great ball of dark magic emerges from Zeref and wraps around him, taking him into the sky at high speed. Natsu and the others immediately gets ready to fight.

Zeref lands on the ground and causes a wind that knocks everyone off their feet. His eyes are glowing red and he looked truly menacing right now with his robes flying freely in his own wind behind him. Natsu began to glow with flames.

"I promise, Zeref. I'll defeat you!"

* * *

 **Zeref vs Natsu. One of the most anticipated battles of the whole FT universe. I'll be doing my best to give out my version of how I think the battle should go.**


	16. The Two Brothers

**Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **Here it goes...my vision of one of the most anticipated battles in all of FT. Three...two...one...**

 **Natsu vs. Zeref**

* * *

 **Ch. 16: The two brothers**

Natsu goes in head on with both of his fists on fire with Gajeel and Wendy running close behind.

Zeref smirks as he raises one hand and Natsu is immediately lifted off the ground. The dragonslayer was thrown back with brute force, crashing into Gajeel and Wendy.

"Natsu! Gajeel! Wendy!" Lucy cried.

Sting cracked his knuckles, "Alright then. Time for the other dragonslayers to get in on the action too!"

Rogue nodded in agreement, running side by side with his comrade.

"On it."

He transformed into his shadow and zoomed in behind Zeref as Sting prepared for a double fist attack. He leapt up into the air to gain a height advantage.

Rogue charges towards Zeref from behind at the same as Sting attacked from the front. However, both dragonslayers never made it close to their enemy. They came smack into an invisible barrier shielding Zeref, and were thrown back in opposite directions.

Just as that happened, Gray and Lucy charged forward.

The ice wizard made bullets of ice, raining from the sky. The celestial wizard unleashed her whip and pulled down the branches of an enormous tree directly in front of Zeref to prevent any quick escapes.

A great black mist surrounded Zeref as he shot up to the sky and directed the ice bullets towards the dragonslayers, who were lying on the ground. Reacting quickly, Gray created a protective shield around the dragonslayers, and right after that, Minerva teleported them towards the safety of the rest of the group.

However, Zeref took advantage of this opportunity and unleashed his signature death wave. Luckily, Rufus manage to grow a gigantic tree right out of the ground. The trunk of the tree shielded the wizards from the black wave of death. Due to that, the tree was completely annihilated, but the wizards were still alive.

"That was way too close," Erza panted. "We need to split up into two groups. One for offense, and one for defense. For now, I'll be taking offense!"

She requipped into her black wing armour to give her an aerial advantage. Jellal and Orga prepared to battle as well.

"We'll be right behind you!" Jellal yelled out to her.

Yukino and Hisui rushed to the sides of the battle.

"If anything happens. We'll be able to see and act quickly," Yukino explained.

Lucy nodded at them, "Alright then, but you and I should conserve our energy for fighting our spirits later. So I'll help you on defense!"

She ran to the opposite side, where Yukino was.

Erza takes one giant swipe at Zeref who easily backed away from it. Orga sees the Black Wizard avoiding Erza's attack, and quickly shoots out a ball of lightning at him. But the lightning dissipates before it could connect with the target.

Jellal activates meteor and runs around the Black Wizard from all angles, keeping him occupied and at the same time, drawing out a certain constellation on the ground around him. He stops and activates the stars he drew, causing a huge explosion to occur around his target.

Zeref, however appeared nowhere to be found after the dust had erroded away from Jellal's explosion.

Lucy cried out to her friends in warning, "Guys watch out! He's coming from above!"

Sure enough, as everyone looked above them, Zeref was coming down to them fast. Natsu gets up from the ground and runs towards his friends.

"Guys! Get down!"

He pushed the three wizards down to the ground, sliding a good distance away from Zeref when he landed just a second later, creating a large dent in the dirt.

Zeref wasn't finished yet, he lifted both of his arms and immediately after, several large balls of black were seen falling from the sky. It was a dark hailstorm. Yukino acted quickly and summoned Libra.

"Activate zero gravity in this zone! Hurry!" She commanded.

The spirit did as commanded and soon, everyone and everything that wasn't rooted to the ground began to float. And just in time too, the rain of black death balls were just about to hit the wizards.

Gray began shooting at several of the death balls with his ice cannon and Erza did the same in her Heaven's Wheel Armour. When the last of the balls has been disposed of, Yukino ordered Libra to set the gravity to normal again before closing her gate.

Everyone fell to the ground, except for Zeref who landed cleanly on his feet and looked at the wizards before him.

"Do you expect to defeat me when you're not standing up?" He asked sarcastically.

Natsu got to his feet and smiled.

"That was just a warm up. Now that we know your limits, we can go to our fullest!"

Flames engulfed him as he shouted the last sentence. Minerva used her territory magic to decrease the air pressure they would feel wherever they go, thus increasing their speed and their agility.

Natsu and Sting went in together and hit Zeref with their ranged attacks, doing their best to avoid any contact with him. Wendy gives Gajeel a wind boost from her Sky Dragon's Roar, that allowed for him to drill down onto Zeref with gravity on his side.

Zeref is now getting pushed back a bit, but still not defeated. Rogue appears beneath Zeref and knocks him into the air, allowing for Orga to rain down a single lightning bolt that was zeroed in on the Black Wizard.

Zeref lands on his knees, catching his breath.

Hisui calls out to Arcadios, "Now Arcadios! The magic decrease cannon!"

Arcadios did as commanded and aimed for Zeref while he was off guard. The blast from the cannon stopped right before the Black Wizard, almost as if time had came to a halt.

Suddenly, every single one of the wizards felt their throats being constricted as they were suddenly lifted off their feet. Zeref stood up, lifting both hands to sustain all of the wizards sustained in the air, holding them by their throats.

He smirked, "You wizards...are really something with your magic. I'd like to see...what you are capable of without it!"

The blast from the magic decrease cannon suddenly doubled in size. With one snap of Zeref's fingers, the blast reversed direction, and headed back towards the wizards.

They all yelled and screamed to no avail as the blast passed straight through their bodies. When it was over, Zeref dropped all of them to the ground, weakened and deprived of magic energy. Orga was the first to attempt to cast a spell, only to realize how much of a drag it was causing to his body. Minerva sternly scolded him.

"Don't do that! We're all drained of our magic. No...we're just drained of our energy to use it!" She cried.

The wizards groggily got up to their knees and tried to crawl back from the Black Wizard, who chuckled in amusement and readied a large black ball of death in his right hand.

"If you really want to defeat me. You'll be able to do it without magic. Once you do, I'll grant you your strength again. Show me. Show me how strong your will is!"

Natsu struggled to get up to his arms, then to his knees. Lucy watched him struggle and called out to him to not strain himself. Natsu shook his head, ignoring her orders.

"No...we have to defeat him. We have to!" He stressed.

Gray growled and grunted, "Will you stop that and start facing reality? We need to get out of here first! We can't defeat him if we're dead!"

Erza agreed with Gray. She attempted to also get up in order to stop Natsu from doing anything stupid.

"What are the chances of us staying alive here in this condition? Natsu! There's no other way!" She insisted.

 _"But there is",_ he thought.

This was something that he bothered him and haunted him since that day...the day Zeref told him about his past. It made him question whether or not he even knew himself then, but after this long journey, he finally decided to accept it as just another part of him. A part of him that is going to be awakened soon...

One of part of him that is the Natsu Dragneel who is loyal to the end with his friends and guildmates, a destructor who always goes overboard, and the younger brother of Zeref.

The other part is what Zeref had made him to be...looking around, Natsu saw all of his friends, on the ground, quivering in pain and fear.

"Damnit. I'm sorry guys. This is something I must do," Natsu mumbled under his scarf.

Jellal heard those whispers and his eyes widened as he sensed a strong form of energy and power emerge from within Natsu. He called out to him.

"What are doing Natsu? You can't use magic! You'll destroy your own body!" Every word was said with emphasis.

Natsu stood up from the ground, this time with ease. He no longer looked like he was in pain. In fact, he looked like as if he never lost his powers in the first place! His eyes began to glow a fiery red.

"Fine. If I can't use magic...then I'll use curses!" He hissed.

The sky above Natsu began to look as if it was lit on fire and large black smoke rose from the ground around him. The trees around the area were engulfed in flames and cracks began forming in the dirt, oozing out droplets of bright red magma.

The Book of END began to rumble and levitate. The seal on its cover began to glow and slowly rip. Finally, the seal completely came off and the book was wide open. It stopped levitating and fell to the ground.

Natsu put out both of his hands to the sky and thrusted his head back as a great wind blew around him, allowing the transformation to begin. Natsu's body began to morph and darken, starting from his feet and all the way up to the top of his head.

Charcoal coloured stone were around his legs, like armour. His vest was replaced with a tattered blue coat that was glowing like the edge of flames. Black marks of a swirly design donned his hands, his neck, and his forehead.

But the most significant changes were the two red horns that appeared on either side of his side and large red wings sprouting out of his back. His hands are no longer those of a human. But is instead crimson, scaly and extends into long sharp claws. The transformation was complete.

All of the wizards looked at Natsu...no, END standing before them, looking at Zeref with a stare that is absolutely murderous. Lucy's jaw dropped, as did everyone else. Gray and Jellal's pupils had shrunk in shock.

"No way...it's...it's..." Gray gasped in disbelief.

"END. Etherious Natsu Dragneel. The only thing that has a possibilty of defeating Zeref," Jellal concluded.

Zeref's expression went from cruel and sadistic to shock and happiness. His eyes were no longer glowing red, and he dropped the black death ball to the ground, dissolving the dirt away.

"It's true...you're really going to destroy me..." Zeref replied.

Natsu, or rather, END growled and began speeding towards the Black Wizard at extremely high speed. Jellal looked back to everyone else with a warning look.

"We should get out of here. For safety reasons."

Which was the right thing to do, because the moment later, Natsu shot his fist to the ground, which launched out a field of flames that went in all directions from his body, in a circular shape. The flames evaporated all the plants, trees, and rocks within a few meters radius from Natsu.

The ground was charred and had deep cracks in it, like on a hot summer day where all the moisture had dried up from the dirt. Zeref spread out the flames around him as they neared his body, but was unprepared for the attack, when Natsu leapt at him without giving him a second's break, delivering a great kick that knocked the Black Wizard a good distance back, causing a long drag trail to appear on the ground.

By now, Zeref is getting tired and having a hard time breathing. He knew the end would come soon.

Natsu showed no relent as he lifted his right hand into the air and gathered the heat around him into one hand-sized packet. He thrusted it towards Zeref. As the packet was traveling across the air, Zeref lifted his hand and pushed it back towards Natsu, but when it came upon contact with his body, Natsu was unfazed by it and continued onwards.

Zeref levitates the remaining trees from the ground and thrusted it towards Natsu, who immediately evaporated them into thin air as he charged towards Zeref. Natsu drives one arm back to punch Zeref, but the Black Wizard then accidentally unleashed his death wave while Natsu was in close range.

Lucy saw that and cried out in fear.

"No! Natsu!" Tears streaming down her face as she screamed.

But when the death wave was over, Natsu's body was nowhere to be seen on the ground before Zeref. The Black Wizard instead, looked up to the sky to see Natsu, who was engulfed in black flames. The flames which had absorbed the magic from Zeref's wave, protecting Natsu from death, though just barely.

Natsu wobbled a bit in the air due to his close proximity to the dark magic in his flames. He tightened his fists to emit the flames off of his body into several tiny pieces, they were nothing more than particles floating in the air around him.

Zeref sees Natsu, who was neither moving nor attacking, so he immediately launched an offense of dozens of death balls that were shooting towards Natsu at turbo speeds. Natsu threw the particles of flames infused with death magic towards each one of the death balls, destroying about half of them. Then he began flying around and dodging every single one of the black balls that were thrown at him.

Zeref increased the number of balls he's launching, at the same time, Natsu increased his speed and agility, growling as he came closer, and closer.

Seeing that Natsu is getting closer, Zeref brings his hands together before spreading them out in a large circle, making strong forcefield that immediately knocked Natsu back, tumbling through the air. Natsu flew to the ground, glaring at Zeref.

Both fighters were catching their breaths and were running out of ideas. Zeref was the first to break the silence.

"You're actually taking your time...this is new. I guess being a demon made you more practical, eh Natsu?" Zeref asked.

Natsu snorted and squeezed his fists, his eyes were shining like the pits of hell.

"You think? I'm not taking my time, or being practical! I'm just doing what I usually do! Just in a different form!" He growled in a voice that sounded nothing like his actual one.

Natsu glowed with even more flames with a ring of fire surrounding them. The ring of fire expanded in all directions, exploding the ground around Zeref, who was slightly fazed by it, but quickly returned to his guard. Lifting a few fingers, Zeref breaks off pieces of the ground and levitated them as Natsu began flying towards the Black Wizard once again.

The obstacles Zeref was levitating were infused with death itself, but Natsu easily burnt them one by one as they came up one after the other. Zeref unleashed a beam of pure dark energy straight towards Natsu, who countered it with nothing but his own bare body that is being shielded a thin layer of flames, that were absorbing the dark energy.

He continued to fly towards the Black Wizard at a speed so fast, that his body became a complete blur of red, orange, and black.

The next thing that happened was Natsu and Zeref made contact and tore through each other. It was like as if time had slowed down for the wizards witnessing this unbelievable battle. Natsu, who shook off the flames of dark magic off of his body, lowered his right clawed hand.

Zeref, is seemingly unfazed. His hair was covering his eyes, thus hiding the expression he's feeling. His mouth was gently opened, as if he's trying to say something. And huge a gaping rip was made on the left side of his body.

There was no blood, no tears, no screams. Just silence.

The Black Wizard slows down to a walk, then to a stumble. He holds himself steady against a thin tree nearby, taking long and slow breaths in and out. His expression was unreadable, but it didn't look like he was in any sort of pain or anything similar to that.

Natsu closed his eyes as a warm golden aura covered him. He lost his END form, and returned to his regular body. Opening his eyes, he sees his friends before him, who were all standing up by now, their strengths had been returned to them, just as the Black Wizard had said.

Jellal nodded in the direction behind the pink haired young man, where Zeref struggled to turn around to face the rest of the wizards. Natsu turned around to see Zeref attempting to walk towards them, but he fails after taking the first step.

Seeing him about to collapse to the ground, Natsu immediately rushes forward towards Zeref, catching him and carefully bringing him down to his knees. He then lays Zeref on the ground, gently holding his hand and back, his expression full of sorrow and grief, but no regrets.

Something appears within Natsu's eyes.

It was tears.

Zeref weakly lifted a hand in an attempt to point out the tears streaming down Natsu's face. Natsu shook his head in order to refrain him from moving too much. Zeref just smiled and coughed.

"Look at you. You're crying...and I thought I was the crybaby of the family. Or at least that's what mother said."

Natsu couldn't hold himself back anymore and finally lets his emotions take over him.

"Zeref...I...I'm so sorry," he stuttered.

Zeref sighed, "About what? You've given me what I wanted most. For centuries, I've dreamed of this, and now it's actually happening. Natsu...thank you. I knew my brother wouldn't let me down. My beloved younger brother..."

Natsu shook his head, tears fell off his cheeks and plopped onto Zeref's tattered robes.

"See? After everything I've caused for you, all the pain and hardships you went through, you still cared for me. I didn't even feel a single connection to you...not until now that is. I'm sorry for shunning you out...you must know...Zeref."

Natsu puts all of his heart and honesty into these next words, "I love you too. For the first time. I'm happy...to be your brother."

With that, Natsu laid Zeref against a nearby rock and stood up. Zeref put a hand over his gaping wound, gasping a bit. Lucy and the others walked up behind Natsu, she clasped her hands together in front her, a sympathetic look on her face.

"Zeref...we should at least give you a proper buri—"

Zeref shook his head and interrupted her.

"No Lucy! There isn't much time, this fight has triggered enough violence to awaken Acnologia's physical conscience. You must defeat it. Lucy! Yukino! The celestial spirits! Summon all of them!" He coughed.

Lucy and Yukino nodded, and just when they were all about to turn and leave, a bright light gathered around in the area in front of Zeref. When it settled, the spirit of the first master, Mavis, kneeled before him. Mavis puts both hands under Zeref's face, looking at him in the eyes. She looked sad, but she was also smiling.

"Zeref...your dream...it came true. Do you feel it now?" She asked.

The Black Wizard nodded and smiled happily.

"Yes...I feel it. The joy, the calmness. You were right, dear Mavis. I'm finally happy now."

Mavis leaned in closer and smiled brighter, closing her eyes peacefully.

"Lets go. We still have lots more adventures to go on!"

Zeref lifted a hand to her small back.

"Yes...lets."

With that, their bodies dissipated into the air, leaving the wizards to reflect on the brief, yet touching scene.

Natsu looked up to the sky and saw that the it was changing from a starry night sky to something that looked more of a duststorm. Jellal gasped as he felt the presence of Acnologia's conscience nearby, but it was not yet here.

"It's coming. Everyone be prepared!" Jellal warned as the entire area began dissappearing and the leftover ground beneath them turned into a deep shade of red.

The ground was in the shape of Fairy Tail's guild mark. The entire area around the mark no longer looks like a sky, but instead, the inside of a desert's sandstorm with streaks of black and grey sand.

Lucy and Yukino looked unsure at first as they looked around the area, amazed by how it changed so quickly. Leo suddenly appeared before the two celestial wizards, looking extremely serious.

"What are you waiting for? Acnologia's conscience is not coming out until there's enough violence! Summon us in our true eclipse forms! We'll help you get him out! Just do it!"

Leo disappeared into the celestial world again as Lucy and Yukino looked at each other, determined but regretful. They took out the eclipse lacrimas Hisui given to them back at the palace in Crocus and fused it with their keys.

Yukino stepped forward, volunteering to go first. Lucy gave her friend a good supportful grip on the shoulder, Sting and Rogue nodded at her encouragingly.

Taking a deep breath, Yukino lifted her first Zodiac key fused with eclipse lacrima.

"Open, gate of the two fish: Pisces!"

A golden light shone and Pisces appeared, looking very horrid and menacing.

They had crimson eyes and a misty body with razor-sharp scales and tails that looked like it could slice through full grown trees. In other words, these spirits looked very different from the eclipse celestial spirits back then.

The entire group of wizards readied themselves to fight this first celestial spirit. After this one, there were twelve more to go.

* * *

 **Waaah! I did it! I've written the battle of the two brothers! Personally, it came out better than what I've expected, but what do you guys think? (Hey, everyone has different opinions and I respect that. Please comment in the reviews!)**

 **Anyways, the very final battle—the _true_ final battle is going to take place in the next chapter! **

**(BTW, did you guys read the latest chapter of FT? I'm getting all hyped up to see what's going to happen! I mean, the twelve Spriggans are all back together again and Mavis is together with Zeref! Urrghh! My FT limit is going over the gauge! I must know what's going to happen next!)**


	17. Battling the Eclipse Spirits

**Disclaimer: All characters and setting belongs to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **Man! Am I ever exhausted! It's been a verrrrryyy busy and tiring week for me, so this chapter is probably not the best one out there. (Sorry!) But I really did try to put this together. Anyways, we are nearing the end of this story...and well um...I don't know exactly what to do after this...ah whatever! I'll think about it when that time comes.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Battling the Eclipse Spirits**

Pisces immediately made a move towards the wizards, encircling them with their long misty bodies, severely rendering them of their vision. Rufus put two fingers to either side of his head to make a bright light source, allowing them to see through the black mist being strewn everywhere by Pisces.

He then created a combination of a fire and water attack that managed to hit Pisces dead on. The spirit succumbed to the water, as it is its weakness. Then it returned to its normal state and began to slowly fade away. Finally, it returned to the celestial world again.

Everyone was confused as to what just happened.

"Huh? How did you beat it so easily?" Yukino wondered. "Back then, they were much harder to defeat."

Rufus shrugged. "I don't know. That spell was actually a rather powerful one though, I didn't know how strong the spirit was, so I gave it my all and it worked," he explained.

Hisui gasped, suddenly understanding.

"I think I know. The spirits are only in their eclipse forms because this way, they can withstand the influence of Acnologia more than they can in their normal forms. And this way, they won't remember the battle they had with their wizards. Thirteen spirits, thirteen short battles, they made it just enough for Acnologia's conscience to be called out," she explained.

Rufus sighed in relief, "Well that may be true, but that attack was an energy drain for me. I think Pisces took some of my power away from my attack. Don't worry, I'll heal up."

The Memory-make wizard sat down on the ground, a few feet away from the center of the battleground.

Lucy nodded, "Ok then, how about this. One wizard per spirit, that sound good to you guys?" She asked.

Wendy agreed, "Great. Then after we defeat the last spirit, I'll just quickly heal whoever's still weak."

Orga jumped up in excitement.

"Oh! I'm taking on the next one! Please?" He asked.

Yukino smiled weakly and noddedm "Ok, then." She stepped forward and took out her key.

"Open, gate of the balance: Libra!"

Libra appeared in the form of a nearly transparent woman, clad in shiny attire. She immediately tilted the entire battle ground to one axis, which nearly caused all of the wizards to fall over the edge. Orga took this chance to gave it his all, as he casts a powerful spell.

Thunderclouds swirled above the spirit and it rained down bolts of black lightning once, twice, three times. The spirit was finished just like that and returned to the celestial world, the ground was back to normal as well, but Orga is on his knees, out of breath.

Yukino looked to Lucy, her face said that she did not want to summon her thirteenth spirit just yet. Lucy understood and decides to summon her first spirit.

"Open, gate of the water bearer: Aquarius!"

The entire area looked like as if they were under the ocean when Aquarius appeared from the ground, her entire body is light blue. The bottom half of her body is joined with the ground as if it was water itself. Aquarius turned the entire area to liquid water, and the wizards sank down in surprise. Then a large whirlpool appeared, making escape seem nearly impossible.

Gray concentrated hard and froze the entire whirlpool, including Aquarius, whose body was made of water. Gray inserted both of his hands into the ice and put his magic into it. The ice glowed a bright white light, and Gray took his hands back out before snapping both of his fingers, which caused the ice to explode. Aquarius was sent back to the celestial world and the entire ground returned to normal as well.

Gray sat down, out of breath and tired. Lucy wasted no time in summoning her next spirit.

"Open, gate of the golden bull: Taurus!"

The spirit emerged from the sky and struck the ground with his double-ended battle axe, severing the entire place in half. He then made several more magic weapons appear in thin air and thrusted them towards the wizards.

Minerva quickly adjusted the location of the weapons to have it miss them, before using her magic to bind the halves of the battleground together. Facing Taurus, she waited for him to throw his battle axe towards them again before changing the territory of the spirit with her friends, allowing Taurus to be hit with his own weapon.

After Taurus returned to the celestial world, Erza helped Minvera to sit down and rest, while Lucy called out another spirit. It was beginning to become difficult for her to watch these battles.

"Open, gate of the crab: Cancer!"

Cancer's scissors were now thousands of tiny shurikens which were dispersed all around the wizards. But before any of the weapons could come into contact with the wizards, Erza easily destroyed all of them with the swords of her Heaven's Wheel Armour.

She immediately requipped into her Nakagami Armour with some difficulty but she was successful, and without giving another thought, she charged forward towards Cancer, dodging the projectiles being fired at her. Running through Cancer with her sword, she successfully sent him back to the celestial world. Jellal ran forward to catch her before she falls from exhaustion.

Lucy took her next key and summoned another spirit.

"Open, gate of the maiden: Virgo!"

A huge sinkhole appeared beneath the wizards as Virgo appeared, clad in a floaty piece of black material. The wizards fell to the bottom of the sinkhole only to find themselves being sucked into several smaller tunnels around the huge hole.

Rogue, feeling a bit sick from the wind that is pushing him around the many tunnles, transformed into his shadow and travelled through the ground towards the top of the area where Virgo is. He avoids falling through any more holes while in his shadow form and easily takes out the spirit with a breath attack.

Lucy took some time to catch her breath as well, as she is running low on energy too from summoning her spirits, but she didn't stop.

"Open, gate of the archer: Saggitarius!"

Arrows were flying everywhere as soon as Saggitarius appeared, looking very similar to what he looked like back when he first affected by the eclipse, except this time, he can shoot arrows and other projectiles on pure will.

Jellal used his meteor power to avoid being hit with one of the deadly objects. He gave the spirit one swift kick in the front, knocking him off guard for a moment which was enough time for him to use his Sema spell. That did it for Cancer and Jellal wobbled towards the rest of the wizards, looking happy, but also groggy.

The next spirit Lucy was about to summon made her fight back tears. It was one of her closest friends and the one who told her and Yukino to do this, but she went on with it.

"Open, gate of the lion: Leo!"

A great light shone from the ground beneath them, then an even stronger force pushed the wizards towards the edges of the battleground, letting them hang onto the edges with their fingertips. Leo laughed as he saw them quiver in panic.

Natsu however, just grinned and with a loud shout, called out for Happy who quickly flew over to him and helped him back to the top. The rest of the exceeds helped the rest of the wizards, while Natsu fought Leo, with the spirit deflecting every attack the dragonslayer is giving.

Natsu eventually goes into his Lightning Fire Dragon mode and absorbs one of Leo's attacks. He delivered a tremendous breath attack combined with some of Leo's magic, finishing the spirit off. Natsu walked back to Lucy, giving her thumbs up and a gentle nod.

"Don't worry, I made it quick, so he didn't have to feel anything. Keep up the good work Luce. We're getting close to the end," he encouraged. Lucy nodded and summoned her next spirit.

"Open, gate of the twins: Gemini!"

The two little spirits appeared in the form of two little insect like creatures. They came together and transformed into a hybrid of two dangerous looking creatures.

A great dark beam of magic emerged from its mouth that was blocked by Gajeel's iron fist. Gajeel smirked as he leapt forward, excited to fight a creature so dangerous looking.

"I'll show you who's the stronger one!" He cried as he went into shadow mode and attack the spirit from below, knocking him into the sky.

Gajeel jumped up and used him iron sword to plummet the spirit into the ground, sending him back. Lucy and Yukino grimaced at that, but straightened up as Gajeel attempted to walk back in a straight line, only to fall to his knees from lack of power.

Lucy sighs and summons another spirit.

"Open, gate of the lamb: Aries!"

A huge grey fluff grew from the ground, separating the wizards and threatening to suck them into the endless bounds of fluff. Aries is nowhere to be seen, the wizards are attempting to get out of the wool currently but they struggle. Lucy suddenly remembers that she a silver spirit that could probably be very useful in a situation like this.

"Alright then, lets give this key a go! Open, gate of the chisel: Caelum!"

The spirit appeared in the form of a sword which Lucy immediately used to hack away all of the wool and then commanded it to blast away the leftovers. The wool shriveled to a single spot where it took the form of Aries, all weak and tired. Lucy immediately felt guilty and in pain, but Aries gave her a assuring smile before returning to the celestial world.

Natsu weakly walked towards Lucy to give her a hug.

"Hey, it's fine, they're all strong for going through this."

Lucy nodded, "Lets get this done and over with. Open, gate of the scorpion: Scorpio!"

A huge sandstorm covered the area, except this time, the wizards all sticked together for safety. Scorpio's figure could barely be seen amongst the heavy grains of sand flying through the air. Wendy squinted her eyes and concentrated hard before letting out her Sky Dragon's Roar, which quickly cleared away the sand storm.

She saw Scorpio, which is nothing more than just a bunch of sand particles loosely formed together, she used a strong wing attack to blow apart the spirit while he is still in shock from the disappearance of his storm.

Lucy gripped her last key.

"This is my last key! Open, gate of the goat: Capricorn!"

As soon as the spirit was called, every single wizard felt a great force that pushed them down onto their knees, unable to get up. Capricorn was in a deep shade of grey and had spikes and knubs all over his body. He walked around each one of the wizards and stopped at Sting, who was shining with light among the darkness and terror.

Capricorn picked up the dragonslayer and attempted to break him by beating down his back, but Sting persisted and eventually, broke free of his control and fought back. He delivers a final blow from a double fisted punch of a light dragon, thus freeing everyone from their knees and sending back the spirit.

Lucy looked to Yukino, who looked up at the sky. It was faint, but the wizards could barely see the outline of a dark and shapely form that they suspected to be Acnologia's physical conscience.

"It's getting closer...just one more fight...and this'll be over! Open, gate of the snake charmer: Opiachus!"

The entire sky turned into a vast purple layer of fog that settles down towards them. Upon touching the the purple substance, the wizards felt immediate pain to their bodies and fell to the ground in shock, Yukino managed to escape from the vast purple fog and find a clear spot. However, a wind suddenly blew over her which granted her enormous pain.

She screamed but tried to stand her ground and not return to the fog again. A figure formed from the purple fog and slithered towards Yukino. She assumed this to be Opiachus and tried to get away but succumbs to the pain.

"I need a healer...wait that's it. Opiachus is now a causer of pain, so healing magic would weaken it!"

Yukino ran back into the purple fog to look for Wendy. She summons Deneb the swan to take the little girl to safety of the clearing, then continues to use him as a means of distracting Opiachus. Wendy, despite being extremely tired and in pain, squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on a mass healing spell.

The young girl was only used to healing people one at a time, so she gave it her all to distribute the same skill to a much larger area. A blue wave of mist emerged from her and cleared away all the purple fog, restoring everyone's energy and vitals again. Opiachus dissipates along with it and Yukino closes Deneb's gate as well. Lucy rushes up to Yukino and Wendy, smiling.

"We did it!" She cried taking Yukino's hands in hers.

Jellal nodded but then pointed to the sky, "Not yet, we haven't."

All of the wizards stepped back as the dusty sky gave way to a new contestant of the fight.

At first, it looked like a collection of black particles, but as it landed in front of them, it took the shape of a misty dragon emblem. The emblem had blue designs upon its body and an aura that none of the wizards liked.

Erza looked at the figure with determination, "This is it. Acnologia's physical conscience. Make our last battle count everyone!"

They all agreed.

Sting and Gajeel looked to Natsu with a look that practically tells him to ' _hurry up!'_ Wendy fiddles with her fingers and looks to the ground, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Rogue did the same, and Sting puts an arm around his friend's shoulders. Gajeel nodded at Natsu, encouraging him to say what they need to say.

Natsu and the other dragonslayers walked to the front of the wizards and faced Acnologia's conscience. Taking a deep breath, the fire dragonslayer puts two fingers to his forehead where the telepathy headband was. He looked to all of his friends and said what needed to be said.

"Everyone. This is...the last battle where we all fight together. So lets do what Erza's said. Lets make it count!"

All of the wizards and everyone back on the airship was confused by what he meant as "last."

Makarov asked him, "Would you care to elaborate on that Natsu?"

Gray nodded in agreement, "You're being too vague."

Natsu squeezed his eyes shut and beads of sweat appeared on the back of his neck.

"What I'm saying—no...what we're saying is..." He trailed off.

"Is what? Who's we? What's going on here?" Erza asked, getting a bit suspicious.

Natsu looked to the dragonslayers who by now, looked like they were on the verge of breaking apart. He gestured to to them.

" _We..._ as in Gajeel...Wendy...Sting...Rogue...and I...we're dragonslayers from 400 years in the past with the intention of completing one goal. Everyone, listen up. Once we defeat Acnologia...we're going to disappear!"

Jellal rushed forward.

"What are saying!?" He cried, which was barely audible amongst the many other voices crying out in shock from the news Natsu just presented to them.

"Is this just another joke?" A voice pleaded.

"Please tell us that's not true!" Another voice begged.

Natsu looked to Lucy, who had her eyes locked on him. She looked neither sad nor happy, just blank. Her breathing was laboured and her body was frozen in shock. He and the rest of the dragonslayers walked closer to Acnologia's conscience and prepared for battle.

"We're just saying goodbye right now,"he explained.

"No! There's still time! We could—" Makarov said before being cut off by Natsu.

"There is no time! Look, we know it's difficult, but...it's like what the princess said...there's no turning back now!"

With that, Natsu ended the telepathy and charged forward with the rest of the dragonslayers, eager yet reluctant to finish the final battle.

* * *

 **Please review! Thanks for the all the views I've been receiving on this story! I'm really enjoying writing this! Until next time...**


	18. Goodbye, our dragonslayers

**Disclaimer: All characters and setting belongs to Mashima. Square Enix, I give thee credit for inspiring me.**

 **I'm sorry if this came out a little later than the one before. The past few weeks had been packed for me! I had volunteering to do and had to help my family get ready to go to our cottage. Heck, I was just editing this chapter on the morning when we're about to leave! I was not preparing to go without at least posting this. I hope you guys enjoy it! The next chapter would be the last one.**

* * *

 **Ch. 18: Goodbye, our dragonslayers**

Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue all charged towards Acnologia with their attacks but the conscience unleashed a white and blue light that harshly thrusted them towards the ground. Wendy managed to withstand the attack due to her light weight, and used her wing attack in to deter Acnologia. It gave time to the rest of the dragonslayers to defend themselves from the first attack. Erza charged forward, requipping into her piercing armor.

"I see. It can only do one spell at a time and it can be either defense or offense! This'll make the battle easier than what I'd expected!" She thrusted her sword towards the conscience who easily blocked it with a barrier spell.

This allowed for Gray and Rufus to prepare a blast, using a combination of their cannons, as soon as Erza moved away from the conscience. The shot penetrated through Acnologia as soon as he lowered his defense, but he just barely dodged it.

The conscience then launched a devastating omni-directional attack that hit every single wizard dead on, frying them like bugs to a zapper. Wendy quickly used the same healing wave she did before to restore everyone's energy before succumbing from the lack of power.

Gray saw the young dragonslayer fall and in anger, created several harpoons of ice which the conscience easily blocked, and then deflected back towards them. Minerva used this opportunity to switch the direction the harpoons again, and ran straight in front of Acnologia.

Acnologia attempted to hit Minerva, which lowered his defense, and allowed the ice harpoons to hit him. The conscience then suddenly used a spell similar to Wendy's and healed itself of its wounds. This greatly shocked everyone and Natsu rushed forward in frustration.

"This thing is why Acnologia is 'Acnologia!' Come on! We're dragonslayers! This is our job!," he encouraged.

His eyes burned with flames, simultaneously with the eyes of Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue. Erza nodded for the rest of them to fall back.

"They're right. Let them take out the conscience! We'll help protect them!" She ordered.

Arcadios nodded, he then got out a new cannon they've never seen before.

Hisui explained, "This'll enable more levels of ethernano, we'll have a higher chance of beating our enemy, but it'll also increase the enemy's power as well."

Gajeel looked back to them, shouting. "Do it!"

The cannon shot out a silvery blast that evaporated into the air. Everyone breathed it in and felt a surge of power rush through them. The conscience seemed to have grown bigger as well, and glowed bright blue light. Jellal raises two hands to make a large golden dome that surrounded the entire area.

"This'll keep that thing from escaping!" He yelled.

Lucy nodded towards the dragonslayers, "We got your backs! Do what you need to do!"

The dragonslayers all grinned and nodded at each other. Natsu cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, lets do this!"

He went in first and launched a brilliant flame attack that was countered with a blast of blue light from the conscience. Rogue immediately went into his shadow mode to get under the conscience, in case it decides to create another protective barrier. Sting and Gajeel used their breath attacks to allow Rogue to sneak in undiscovered.

The conscience launched a wave of blue energy that is blocked by a protective dome created by Wendy. Natsu used his own breath attack to activate the conscience's barrier.

Rogue came up from his shadow and struck Acnologia, knocking him out of the barrier and repeatedly hits him again and again while in his shadow form. The conscience eventually lets out a blast of energy which Rogue managed to dodge, and immediately returned to the rest of the dragonslayers.

Acnologia was not yet finished, the consciecne regained its powers by healing itself again. The dragonslayers grunted in frustration but were stopped when Acnologia launched his omni-directional attack, this time, hitting every single one of the dragonslayers with much more brutal force. Lucy and the others rushed up to the dragonslayers, who were lying on the ground, weak and low on power.

Angered, the wizards all ran towards the conscience and one by one, attacked it using the best of their spells. Natsu stirred awake and saw his friends all fighting Acnologia with all the power they have, he struggled to get up in order to wake the rest of the dragonslayers.

Luckily by now, they were also getting up from the ground by now and caught their breath as they watched the battle before their eyes. Spells and attacks were being thrown here and there so quickly, that nobody could tell who was the was who casted it. But that didn't matter to the dragonslayers, the more intense the fight got, the more energy they felt stirring up deep within their souls.

Before they knew it, they were running forward towards Acnologia at top speed. Lucy and Jellal turned around to see all five dragonslayers charging in their dragon force forms. Jellal shouted for everyone to get down as the dragonslayers tore through and attacked Acnologia from all directions.

Natsu quickly makes a ring of fire around the conscience, allowing Sting and Wendy to combine a dual attack from both directions. This deeply weakened the conscience. Gajeel drilled down the conscience from above, taking even more health away from it.

Rogue immediately wrapped himself around the conscience in his shadow form before it could heal itself again. Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, and Sting all jump in unison and prepare they breath attacks. Rogue lets go of Acnologia and jumped towards his fellow dragonslayers, just as they released their breath attacks.

All five of the elements combined together to form a great and powerful blast of many colours that hits Acnologia dead on. The whole entire place suddenly begins to shake violently, the shield that Jellal created began to crack as the ground also began to split into many pieces.

Acnologia is now withered and small, he then begins to glow then split into several tiny pieces, the pieces scattered all over the place and withered away completely.

The wizards all rushed to huddle together as the place began coming down on them. The ground finally cracked away and they all fall into the endless darkness, the usual purple sky with stars appeared again before them. Judging from the red and orange colours that were slowly emerging from the corners of the sky, they assumed it was the beginning of a new day.

Suddenly, they felt as if gravity had taken a break and their fall began to gradually slow down. Beneath them, was the ground of Tenrou Island, the area where they fought Zeref. All the wizards closed their eyes as they landed on their backs to the ground. They all sighed and looked up towards the sky.

* * *

Outside of Acnologia, the Fairy Tail airship was at a safe distance from the beast. From their point of view, they saw Acnologia at a standstill in the air ever since the team of wizards went inside it. Then suddenly, the dragon began to glow in a bright blue light and was slowly lowering from the sky. Acnologia's mouth barely opened, and its skin began to shrivel.

Wizards of Fairy Tail all gazed from the airship and gasped in amazement before applauding the defeat of Acnologia. In the bridge, Makarov sighed and looked out the window.

"Good job, children. Well done."

* * *

From the outside of Magnolia, the wizards and Alvarez soldiers and the Spriggans were all standing together, looking up to the sky. Even from this distance, they could see the shining blue light in the sky and immediately know that Acnologia, is finally defeated.

Kagura was the first to put her right fist to the left side of her chest, showing her respect and awareness of the pain and hardships everyone had to go through in order for the dragon to be defeated. The rest of the wizards saw this and did the same to show their respects.

The Alvarez soldiers and the Spriggans added, "May the Emperor rest now," when they paid there respects.

* * *

All over the towns and the rest of the continent. People came out from their homes or stopped what they were doing to witness the great miracle happening before their very eyes right now. Little children asked for their parents to lift them up so they could see better.

All of the people around the Ishgar and on the western continent began applauding the defeat of Acnologia.

A young boy in a village in Ishgar asked his father, "Daddy, why are we clapping?"

The father looked to his son. "Because. A great enemy was defeated. And now, we can live happily and in safety," he explained.

The little boy looked up to the sky towards the blue light that is starting to disperse all over the clouds. The sun was rising up more, making the morning much brighter.

* * *

Back inside of Acnologia, the wizards slowly opened their eyes and realized that the place was continuing to fall apart. Lucy looked around them.

"What are we going to do? Does anyone know the way out?" She asked.

Yukino shook her head, "It's ok. We finished our job. I won't mind if we don't make it out."

Natsu stepped up, "I do. I'm not about to let anybody else go down after this! We've finally achieved complete happiness and peace! You guys should be there to enjoy it!"

Lucy looked to him, her expression was a bit sad, but she smiled anyways.

Minerva though, had a determined look on her face.

"Everyone! Come together!" She commanded.

They looked to her, confused. "Huh?" Gray asked.

Minerva shoved them to a group one by one, "Trust me! I'll get all of us out here! Just stay close together!"

She cried, before focusing deeply and thinking hard of the location of the airship and how it looks like inside of her mind. A giant magic circle appeared beneath all of them and they began to fade away from the area.

* * *

Seconds later, they appeared on the outside deck of the airship. Everyone from Fairy Tail immediately rushed down to them, all cheering and embracing them in hugs. Makarov stepped forward to Lucy and Yukino.

"Girls. You do realize you still have the eclipse lacrimas on your keys right?" He reminded.

Lucy looked down to her keys, "Oh yeah. We should remove them right?"

Yukino looked blank. "But how?" She asked.

Makarov nodded to them. "I'm sure you'll be able to figure that out. Use your bonds with the spirit to force it off," he said before walking away.

Lucy and Yukino walked to the very front of the deck of the airship and looked out to the sky, where Acnologia was slowly beginning to dissolve away. They took a deep breath in and closed their eyes as they took out all of the keys, and threw them up into the air.

Holding hands, and raising the other, they summoned all thirteen of the spirits in their eclipse forms. Though at first the spirits were intimidating, the two celestial wizards began wielding their keys in a certain pattern across the air, moving their bodies and hands in swift, graceful movements.

As the keys swirled around, the lacrimas began to glow and vibrate. At the same time, the spirits' eclipse forms began to fade away, their original forms began to appear again. Once the last spirit was returned to normal and the lacrima has faded away, Lucy and Yukino moved their hands across the air, thus swiping their keys in a maneuver which closes the gates of the spirits.

The thirteen celestial spirits disappeared back into their world, just as they did, Acnologia's body glowed in an even brighter blue light.

The light then split into several strands, leaving behind nothing. The dragon has finally dissipated away. A few strands of blue light came together to form a figure. That figure was the human form of Acnologia. He gazed directly at the team of wizards at the front of the deck.

After a few seconds of intense staring, a tiny, nearly invisible smile formed on his face. It wasn't a fake smile, it was one that he truly meant. Acnologia said a quiet, "thank you," before fading away into the morning sky.

Lucy and Yukino smiled and turned around to walk back to their friends who greeted them with warm hugs and words.

* * *

Far away in the former property of the Heartfilia family, the glowing eclipse gate lied hidden amongst the forest outside of the Heartfilia Konzern. Slowly, the eclipse gate began to lose its golden glow from the bottom to the top. The doors to the gate slowly closed until it was a firm shut, and the magic energy that once lied in it has completely disappeared, leaving the gate to be nothing more than just a fancy door lying in the grassy meadow.

All the magic energy that once powered this gate, was now gone. Never to be activated again.

* * *

Back on the deck of the airship, Natsu looked around him to see his guildmates embracing one another and shedding tears of joy. Suddenly, he felt something strange coming from his body. The rest of the dragonslayers felt the same thing and looked down to their bodies.

Natsu lifted his arms to see that it was becoming more and more transparent. He sighed and looked up to see Lucy facing him, this time her eyes that a sorrowful expression. She barely whispered the word, "No."

Sting and Rogue shook their heads as Yukino and their guildmates tried to deny the undeniable. The twin dragonslayers gave them one last hug, and words of encouragement before walking towards the edge of the airship. Lector and Frosch nearly ran after them.

Gajeel kneeled down to Pantherlily and told him to always keep going. He looked to Levy and put both hands on her shoulders. He wiped away a tear that went down her face and groaned.

"I thought you were stronger than this. Hey, don't you let me down ok? Don't you ever think negatively or I will come haunt you in your dreams. Levy...there, I called you by your actual name."

He gave several other members of Fairy Tail a bone crushing hug to stop their crying before joining Sting and Rogue by the edge of the ship.

Wendy hugged Carla with tears streaming down her face. Carla scolded Wendy for overly crying.

"Dear child, would you stop already? Or have you not learned anything from the time we've been together?" The white exceed sniffed.

Wendy sniffed and smiled. "I'm sorry...I just can't help it. I can't stop because we've been together through so many things! No matter how hard, we always made it through. So please, keep on doing exactly that."

With that, she stood up and gave each one of her friends a hug, thanking them for making her experience with Fairy Tail the best ever. Wendy walked over to the three dragonslayers who patted her on the head for comfort.

Natsu and Lucy just stared at each other, neither person saying a word.

Natsu finally broke the silence, "Lucy, I'm sorry, but I can't stay."

Lucy firmly shook her head. Happy did the same and jumped into his arms.

"No! Don't leave Natsu! If you do, who'll be there to give us the energy and spirit when we're at our lowest?"

The little exceed was nearly pulling him down. Natsu gently sets down Happy and pointed a finger to him.

"You will. You're my best buddy, so continue what I had in the guild. I'm counting on you," Natsu whispered.

Happy nodded slowly as Natsu stood up and attempted to walk away, but Lucy stood in front of him, tears were threatening to spill over her cheeks.

Natsu sighed and gently said, "Look, I have to go. I'm sorry about all those times when I broke into your room or when you couldn't pay for your rent. But I'm sure it'll get better...goodbye."

He walked around Lucy who reluctantly gave way to him. Happy yelled out after him, "Don't worry Natsu! I'll be there for her!"

Natsu began walking towards the edge of the airship, but about halfway there, Lucy couldn't take it anymore and ran towards him.

"Lucy!" Erza and Gray called out.

Natsu turned around to see Lucy running towards him with open arms, he stretched out to accept her hug, but as soon as she closed her arms for the embrace, she ran right through his body and fell, face first, to the deck. It was as if she ran through air.

Everybody gasped at that scene. Natsu realized that his time is now very short and looked to the sky, watching parts of him float away forever. Lucy lied on the deck, unable to accept this horrible truth. Eventually, she got up and straightened herself out.

Her back turned to Natsu, she took a deep breath and said three little words that she had been wanting to say for a very long time, "I love you."

Upon hearing those words, Natsu turned around and whispered her name, but Lucy didn't move as she just looked forward towards the horizon of the rising sun.

The fire dragonslayer slowly moved up behind the celestial wizard and gently raised his arms. He wrapped them around Lucy's shoulders and put his head closer to hers. Tears of sadness and joy were flowing from his eyes and he bit his lip to prevent any sobs from emerging.

Lucy closed her eyes to savor this once in a lifetime moment, this is the last time she would ever be this close with the fire dragonslayer. She couldn't feel the physical feeling of Natsu's hug, but she could feel the warmth, the emotions, and the true sentiment of the action. She hoped this would all be a dream. But it wasn't, and Natsu was still there when she opened her eyes, fading away.

All of Fairy Tail said nothing as they witnessed this sweet moment between two young people. They parted at the same time and Lucy looked down to the ground again as Natsu walked right through her and towards the dragonslayers. Lucy watche him walk away from her.

Natsu and the dragonslayers all looked out to the distance, where they would be departing for. Turning around to give all of their friends one last farewell wave and smile, they each ran off the edge of the airship and stretched their arms to embrace the feeling of falling through the air and fading away completely.

Amongst the clouds, the dragonslayers eventually met up with the spirits of their dragons.

The founders of Fairy Tail, Yury, Precht, and Warrod, who were standing near Mavis and her illusionary friend, Zera.

Right next to them was Acnologia in his human form, looking in a much better mood. But it was the person between Acnologia and Mavis that Natsu smiled upon meeting.

It was Zeref who smiled at Natsu and held out his hand, almost as if he was expecting him to come. Natsu smiled back at his older brother and gave him a high five, symbolizing their rekindled relationship.

* * *

 **Sometimes, the inevitable is truly inevitable...**

 **Anyways, please read and review! Thanks!**


	19. Epilogue: One Week Later

**Well that's all readers! The end of my very first fanfic I've ever written! I'm actually quite happy as to how it turned out. Thank you for all reading my story, I can't thank you guys enough! I really do hope that you guys enjoyed it. I never really thought that I would've finished this story at all! I mean, there's just so much fanfiction out there that are incomplete, but I couldn't do that you guys. No...I'm sticking around until it's done, and now it's done!**

 **Woo woo! (Party in the background...)**

* * *

 **Epilogue: One week later**

It was a week after the defeat of Acnologia, and the wizards can finally relax and and enjoy their everyday lives again. Memories of the events they endured through the whole journey would never leave them no matter how hard they tried.

Lucy is currently moving boxes of furniture and supplies with Happy. The blue exceed is going to live with her now. Lucy sets down another box full of pictures.

"That's about it for the things we can hang on the wall. Hey, Happy?" She asked.

Happy turned around after adjusting his new bed on the same side where Lucy's bed is.

"Yeah? What is it?" He looked to Lucy.

"There should be some leftover boxes back at your house. You know, the ones full of job requests that Natsu was planning to take?"

She could barely say that sentence without almost bursting into tears.

Happy nodded, "It's ok Lucy, I already brought here. It's over there by the bookshelf."

He pointed over to the wooden bookshelf, where a small box laid, its lid was partway opened. Inside was a large messy pile of job requests that the late fire dragonslayer would never be able to go on.

Lucy went over to pick up the box and carefully stored it inside her closet. She sighed as she closed the door and turned around to face Happy.

"Are you planning on going on any of those requests at all, Lucy?" He asked.

"Sure, why not? If it's do-able, then the two of us could complete it. I mean...it's better than leaving it all to waste..." She mumbled.

Lucy walked over to her bed and flopped down against it. She closed her eyes, trying to ease all the pain away. That did not stop the tears from gathering at the corners of her eyes, and she quickly flipped onto her stomach to wipe them away.

Happy got onto the bed with her. He looked out the window that was right next to her bed.

"So, this was the way Natsu would usually enter your house, right? Heh...I guess looking out this window made me think that he would just suddenly climb in again..."

Lucy sniffled into her comforter, "That's enough Happy...I'd rather not talk about it..."

 _Knock, knock._

Lucy immediately jumped up from her bed and rushed to the door. Opening it, she saw the familiar faces of Erza and Gray. They stepped right into her apartment and wrapped their arms around her.

Lucy sobbed into Erza's chestplate, the red haired woman stroked her hair gently. Gray gently whispered to her, "Lucy. It's time to go."

The hug broke after that, Lucy nodded and rushed to her closet to pick out something decent to wear. She went to the washroom to change into the new outfit. Gray and Erza walked over to Happy and patted him on the head.

"Are you two feeling any better?" Erza asked.

Happy shook his head, "It's been a week and it still feels like it was just yesterday, that Natsu left us..."

"It takes time to heal, believe us. We've both been through pain during our childhood," Gray assured.

Happy smiled, "He...he, really loves her. That's why I'm here. To be with Lucy, and keep her happy."

Lucy emerged from the washroom, fully clothed in her white and blue outfit, the same outfit that she wore when she first met Natsu and Happy at Hargeon. Erza and Gray smiled, Happy flew over to her arms.

"Lets go, Lucy. Everyone's waiting in Crocus," Erza explained

* * *

 _At the Mercurius Palace in Crocus..._

Lucy met with Yukino who was standing by the outside terrace, along with the rest of their guildmates. They all greeted her with hugs and smiles, but did not dare to bring up the subject about the dragonslayers.

From outside the terrace, Master Makarov, King Toma E. Fiore, Princess Hisui, and Arcadios stepped inside. The loud cheers of the people gathered outside the castle was heard as they entered the room, and disappeared as they shut the door behind them.

Makarov nodded at the two celestial spirit wizards to go out and speak to the public.

Lucy and Yukino looked at the sea of people below them, in the giant palace courtyard. All of them were cheering, clapping, and whistling to the two girls standing on the terrace.

Looking behind them, they could see the rest of their friends stand behind them, giving them nods of encouragement. Feeling much more confident now, Lucy addressed to the crowd.

"Citizens of Fiore, we come before you...humbly, and with ease. It's an honour to stand here, before all of you, today," Lucy said.

"Everyone...everyone one of us, had lost something precious. Everyone had lost lands, homes, and friends...but that will now decrease!" Yukino cried.

Lucy walked forward, putting both hands down upon the stone railing of the terrace.

"Everyone...our enemies are finally gone! Zeref...and Acnologia...they're dead! This is our world again...we can do as we please..."

"We'll all work together...making new homes, and new friends. I know that the journey is long and hard...but don't worry. We have lots of time...we will rebuild all of Fiore! No...all of the continent!" Yukino put one fist into the air.

The people cheered loudly for her. Lucy looked at the white haired mage, and smiled at her. Yukino smiled back, stepping back to leave the terrace. Lucy was about to do the same when she just remembered something.

She rushed back to the front of the terrace and called for the attention of the people.

"Oh! And just one more thing! The people, family or friends that we have lost... _or faded away_..."

 _Images of scenes from the journey flash through Lucy's mind. She could see the images of the picnic at the hot springs in the woods._

 _The escape from Acnologia when they were in Crocus._

 _Her almost execution at the top of the Temple of the Spriggans in the Alvarez Empire._

 _And most importantly, her special night with Natsu in the Sprites_ Forest.

As Lucy opened her eyes, a single tear fell off her cheek. But it was a tear of joy, not sadness.

"Never forget them."

* * *

 _Back in Lucy's apartment..._

Loke had decided to come and pay her a visit from the celestial world. Lucy did not complain this time, Happy went to visit Carla and Pantherlily who were in the care of Levy right now, so she wanted some company.

But Lucy did not expect Loke to explain to her what really happened to Natsu and the other dragonslayers.

"So that's what happened. You see, it's because of us celestial spirits...that they're gone..." Loke mumbled.

Lucy looked down at her lap, not knowing what to say.

"I can't believe this. Why didn't Natsu just tell me?"

Loke reached out to her arm, "He did this, so that you would be alive, Lucy. He wanted you alive and happy."

Lucy stood up and walked to her window.

"Well, he kept me alive. But he failed on his goal number two...I'm not happy...and I don't think I'll ever be truly happy again..."

"Lucy...he didn't leave you alone in this world. Natsu would've never kept you here if he knew that you'd be lonely," Loke reasoned.

"I...you're right. I still have you, my celestial spirits, all my friends...it's true though. I'll never forget Natsu, or Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue...but I won't forget about your guys either!"

The blonde haired mage turned around, tears in her eyes.

"Starting today, I'll be a new person. A new Lucy Heartfillia, and hopefully, a better one too. Thanks, Loke."

The lion spirit smiled as he began to glow and fade away.

"No problem, I'll be seeing you again sometime alright?"

Loke returned to the celestial spirit world, and Lucy nodded fiercely. She torn open her closet door and brought out the box full of job requests. Digging through them, she finally found the one that she wanted to go on.

It was a job that requested a certain painting to be stolen from the mansion of Duke Everlue. Lucy laughed and shook her head, remembering her first job, and how it was also at the same guy's place.

Grabbing her keys and tightening her hair tie, Lucy stuffed the job request in the side of her skirt as she rushed out the front door of her apartment.

She made a beeline towards the Fairy Tail guild.

"Hey guys! Happy! Erza! Gray! Lets go on a mission together!"

 _ **The End**_

* * *

 **Anyways, I'm planning on writing a new fanfic pretty soon. It's going to be a different style (it's not going to be like a novel or a free verse poem, but it's more of a 'storyteller mode' style. You sort of get what I mean? Kind of 'draw my life?' Except without the drawings.?).**

 **So that's the style of my next story, and it's going to focus on the past of the Dragon King! I love writing the backstories of all kinds of villains, so people would understand how they came to be and what kind of life they lived before they became 'evil.'**

 **Like I probably said before, I loved writing the chapter about Zeref's past, but I never got a chance with Acnologia. I think that his past is one of the more underdeveloped ones in FT. (Mashima just didn't give us enough information about him.). I mean, by now, we probably know plenty about our favourite Black Wizard and all the details about how he got his powers, but we're still kind of in the dark about Acno.**

 **So that's why I'm making an entire fanfic about his background and how he came to be! (PS. It'll be heavily inspired by _Shingeki No Kyojin_**. **So come one, come all! Fans of that anime!)**

 **Peace out!**


	20. Special Short Chapter!

**Disclaimer: I do not own FT characters or the setting, or the whatevers! I give Mashima all that credit! (Uhh! I might as well start copy-pasting these disclaimers!)**

 **Anyways, here a special short chapter following the events of the epilogue! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Ch. 20: Special Short Chapter!**

Lucy sighed as she walked past the fountain in the large garden of her old estate.

It's been a long time, but she has finally made enough money to retake her family's property again. It'll be a little while longer before she could start hiring servants.

She had recently passed the S-Class Trials, and is now a full-fledged celestial wizard.

Her abilities have grown exponentially, along with her knowledge and magical and physical strength.

She could now summon up to four to five spirits without struggle. And she has the ability to transport herself to the Celestial World when and wherever she wants.

It was a huge improvement since her state five years ago, which marked the year Zeref and Acnologia were simultaneously defeated.

Since then, she worked hard to make herself a better wizard and person. She joined more activities in the guild and around town. She eagerly signed up for events and competitions that people were running.

Overall, Lucy opened herself up to all the opportunities life could offer to her.

No more negative thoughts.

Just like someone she used to know...

And that's the reason why she came to her old home in the first place.

It was more than just looking at the familiar sights and reliving the events that took place during her childhood and adolescence.

She brought someone very dear to her with her here.

"Mama!" A little girl with smooth pink hair and bright brown eyes ran up to her.

Lucy scooped her up and threw her into the air. The girl giggled as she spread her arms as if she's flying.

"Whee!" She cried.

Lucy stopped throwing her and just gently held her daughter close by. Her daughter, Nashi, was a result of the special night five years ago in the hot springs in the Sprites Forest.

It wasn't until a few months after the defeat of their two great enemies, that Lucy realized she was carrying a child.

She was afraid at first. Afraid and sad.

Her daughter was, and would always be, a double-edged knife in her heart. One side would cut away all of Lucy's pains, and replace them with the joy of being a mother. While the other side would cut deeper into her wound, and remind her of her lost-love.

And Lucy doesn't want anyone to feel pity for her, for the loss the Natsu. But she doesn't feel strong enough to talk about Natsu to Nashi yet, she didn't have the guts.

If it wasn't for the continuous and unconditional support she received from her friends, Erza, Gray, Yukino, the whole guild, and her celestial spirits, she may have never worked up the courage to bring Nashi to the Heartfillia Konzern today.

But she did. And she's planning to take her someplace very sacred here.

"Nashi, do you want to walk? We're going somewhere in that big forest in front of us. Don't you want to walk like a big girl?" Lucy encouraged.

"I won't walk! I'll run!" Nashi squirmed out of her mother's grasp and ran ahead down the long stone path and into the greenery.

 _She has his enthusiasm..._ Lucy thought as she quickly ran after her daughter.

Mother and daughter ran through the beautiful flora of the forest, occasionally stopping to observe the wildlife that could be seen in every corner. Such as deer, rabbits, and birds.

Nashi twirled around on the grassy area between the trees, not knowing that she would seen get dizzy from all that spinning. Lucy just laughed.

Nashi may have her father's spirit, but luckily, not his motion-sickness! She'll let her twirl all she wants!

Eventually, they've reached a large grassy hill that lead to an even bigger grassland, void of trees. It was filled with flowers and dandelions.

But the thing that stuck out the most was the giant golden door with fancy carvings along the rim of it. It had twelve symbols, each matching the symbol of a celestial spirit.

Though great and beautiful, the door lacked aura. It had the feeling of something that was once vibrant and useful, to now dull and useless.

Nashi was rolling down the hill and across the flat grassland. Lucy soon realized that she was on a one-way path to colliding with the eclipse door.

"Nashi! Wait!"

But it was too late. Nashi's head hit the side of the large golden door, leaving a loud _gong_ sound echoing throughout the area.

Lucy immediately rushed to her daughter's aid, who was weeping over the pain of hitting her head.

"Ow...it hurts. It hurts mommy! It hurts!" Nashi wailed.

Lucy held her daughter close and gently rubbed her head. Talking to her in a soothing voice.

"I know. I know it hurts. This door is hard. Of course it would hurt when you hit your head upon it. It's not the first time this door hurt someone before though..."

Nashi looked up to her mother.

"Why is this door here in the first place? It's kind of weird, being out here in the open like this. If it wasn't here, then I wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

Lucy looked at the double doors of the eclipse gate. Intently staring at it.

"It's here...because it's here. That's all. It's supposed to be here, Nashi. This is its place. Here, the door could do whatever it's supposed to do. Get it?"

"But it doesn't look like it's doing anything! What's it supposed to do? Hurt people?"

"Yes...and no...you see, Nashi. It's hard to explain. Doors are entries and exits that allow people to go into and out of. Guys, girls, good, bad, wizards...dragonslayers..."

Nashi's eyes brightened.

"Dragonslayers?!"

Lucy nodded.

"Yes. They come and go, when their time is up. You can't argue with that. But it doesn't stop someone from hurting or missing the people who've come and left."

"It's like whatever my playmates come over and have to go when their parents come to pick them up! I'm sad to see them go, but I know that they'll be back tomorrow!" Nashi cried.

"I know, but sometimes...they won't be back tomorrow, or the day after that, or a week later, a month, a year...they can be gone forever..."

By now, Lucy had let go of Nashi and laid back on the grass, her hair spread out below her as she gazed up at the blue sky. Nashi kneeled over her face.

"Like who? Who'll be gone forever?"

"Someone you should've known, but never met, Nashi."

Lucy sat upright again and looked at her daughter straight in the eyes. Nashi returned the same look to her mother, eager to know what she's about to say.

"Your father."

Nashi gasped.

"My dad?! So I had one all this time! What happened to him? Where is he now? What does he look like? Is he still alive? How did you two meet? When will I see him?"

Lucy held her daughter by her shoulders, calming her down.

"Whoa, whoa, Nashi. Slow down. Just let me answer those questions one by one...ok?"

"Ok."

Lucy smiled gently. She crossed her legs and Nashi leaned up against her mother's side, snuggling close into her.

"Well, then lets start with who your daddy is..."

 _Natsu's spirit floated by the mother and daughter, before gently settling on the ground in between them. Lucy and Nashi couldn't see him, but he could see them._

 _He smiled as he wrapped his arms around his potential family, closing his eyes and imagining what a future that could've been._

 _"Thank you, Lucy. Thank you for living your life to its fullest."_

* * *

 _Please read my new fanfic: **His Backstory** (I kind of want some more views, so please take a look at least? Kind of sad that it's not getting much attention _ ;( _...perhaps this fanfic was a bit too flashy? Any comments and feedback would be appreciated for my fic!) Thanks!_

* * *

 **And you guys can interpret whatever happens next as you like! Thanks for reading!**


	21. Thanks guys! Promoting my new FANFIC!

**Dear readers,**

 **I'm sorry to say this, but I won't be continuing this story. I've already labeled it as 'complete,' and I don't intend on doing anymore special short chapters either. Sorry guys.**

 **But that's it.**

 **I never planned on continuing after the end of this story. (That special short chapter was just because I wanted to complete the Nalu ship)**

 **However, feel free to make your own sequels or any other fanfic based on this. Just be sure to give me and my fanfic some credit too! And also, check out my new revised fanfic! (More explanation down below)**

 **I've decided to rewrite my other newer fanfic, His Backstory, in the traditional novel style of writing, instead of oral storytelling.**

 **(Unfortunately, it wasn't getting as much views as I hoped it would get.)**

 **That made me really sad. :(**

 **Maybe it was partly because this story became too popular. So I'm just trying to attract some more attention over to that fanfic currently.**

 **For those of you who don't know about His Backstory yet. I'll give you a quick summary.**

 **I've based it on the dragon, Zirconis' retelling of how Acnologia came to be. (Remember from that dragon from the middle of the Grand Magic Games arc?)**

 **Well, Zirconis said that episode that thousands of years ago, dragons ruled the earth. They fed on all living beings, including humans. And I'm calling that time period, the dragon apocalypse in my fanfic.**

 **It was shown clearly at the end of the Games arc, just how strong and terrifying the dragons could be. Not to mention destructive.**

 **But that was only with six dragons in a small territory. Now imagine thousands of dragons, occupying every area around the world. Get the idea of how horrible life was probably like for the people back in the dragon apocalypse?**

 **Well, that was the life Acnologia was born into and grew up in. No wonder he and the other dragonslayers turned against their own dragons.**

 **Now that may seem irrational when they betrayed them, but if you think about it. They've been subjected to fear, death, and anger for centuries all because of the dragons. Their childhoods were way worse than any of the childhoods the Fairy Tail main cast had been through.**

 **A dragon, any dragon, is a monster in their eyes.**

 **And my fanfic will be detailing the life of a young Acnologia, growing up during the time when dragons ruled. And his eventual downfall/uprise to becoming the ever famous Dragon King.**

 **So please check it out! And feel free to leave any suggestions on how to improve it! :D**

 **Thanks for reading The Finale: Bittersweet.**

 **~Blobby Leaves**


End file.
